2009 WRC : Loeb wins Repco Rally Australia!

2009 Repco Rally Australia winner - Sebastien Loeb with Daniel Elena - Citroen C4 WRC - Citroen Total World Rally Team

KINGSCLIFF, NSW : September 6, 2009 - Citroen Total team leader Sebastien Loeb returned to his rally winning best today, taking victory on Repco Rally Australia after a thrilling three-way fight on the event's final, and longest, day.

2009 Repco Rally Australia winner - Sebastien Loeb with Daniel Elena - Citroen C4 WRC - Citroen Total World Rally Team

Loeb completed the brand new rally, round 10 of the FIA World Rally Championship, 12.5sec ahead of BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen who was second. Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo was third, 4.6sec further back after losing out in a nail-biting battle with Hirvonen that went right to the wire.

Today’s win was the 53rd in Loeb’s record breaking WRC career and his sixth this season. After a run of poor results in the middle of the year, a maximum 10 championship points today puts the Frenchman just one point behind series leader Hirvonen with two rallies to go - firmly back in contention for a sixth consecutive WRC drivers' title.

Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena climbed onto the roof of their C4 WRC at the finish control to celebrate the win - their first since Rally Argentina in April. Their result was a tactical triumph for Loeb, who chose to hand the lead to Hirvonen on Saturday night in exchange for a better road position today. It was a gamble that paid off perfectly.

"This one is a good one," said Loeb "It was a hard fight, and because it's been a long time since our last win it feels especially good. It was really important for the championship to win here. We've done it and I'm really happy. Spain is next and we're one point behind Mikko - the championship is really interesting. It will be an incredible fight to the final I think."

Gunning for a fourth consecutive rally win this weekend, Hirvonen had no option but to drive flat out today to try and overcome his disadvantageous road position. He was helped by damp conditions through the opening rainforest roads, but on the drier sections he couldn't match Loeb's pace, and ended up locked in a thrilling battle with Sordo that was settled on the final stage.

"It was a really tough weekend; there have been many rallies this season where we've been absolutely flat out from start to finish and this was one of those," he said. "But I couldn't help it - Citroen did really well yesterday and we didn't have a chance today. Maybe it would have been a different story if I hadn't been first on the road, but there are so many ifs... We need to forget this one now and move on."

Dani Sordo was shaking his head as he crossed the finish line, but could console himself with another excellent performance on gravel and another valuable points haul for Citroen, which leads the manufacturers' championship, 18 points ahead of Ford. "I pushed really, really hard to try and keep Mikko behind but it was impossible," he said. "Okay, I lost second place but it’s okay; I'm still happy with what we've got."

Fourth place went to Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier. The Frenchman led the rally on Thursday night and had been one of the star performers of the first half of the event. An off-road excursion on Saturday dropped him out of the lead battle but he produced a string of rapid times today. "Apart from one mistake yesterday it's been a very good weekend for us," said Ogier. "We were able to fight with all the best drivers in the World Rally Championship and the car worked well, so I'm very happy for everybody in the team!"

Like Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala showed rally winning potential early in the event, but was left rueing two mistakes which dropped him to fifth. My rally was lost with the two punctures," he said. We got off to a fantastic start; we were leading the rally, but it just didn't work out this time, unfortunately. We got some points, which I'm happy about, and at least I finished."

Stobart Ford team-mates Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg finished sixth and seventh respectively. Starting today's contest less than one second apart, a mix of spins and brake problems for Henning and a puncture for Wilson ruined what could have been a tense, inter-team scrap. "It’s a shame really, it's made this afternoon a little bit boring with nothing to push for," said Wilson. "It would have been nice to finish off with a big battle."

Henning completed the final stage with his brakes working properly. "We found a piece of plastic in the reservoir," he said. "We are here now, and I am happy with the place, but not performance, because we had a lot of problems."

Argentinean driver Federico Villagra rounded off the top eight places after a trouble-free rally in his Munchi's team Ford Focus RS WRC.

New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon was the best placed Group N driver, bringing his Mitsubishi Lancer to the finish in ninth. The result capped a great weekend for the 22-year-old who, on Saturday, was named winner of the Asia Pacific division of the Pirelli Star Driver program for 2010.

2009 WRC Round 10 : Repco Rally Australia

Pos	No	Driver	Time	Diff Next	Diff 1st
1.	1	Sebastien LOEB	2:52:54.0	0.0	0.0
2.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	2:53:06.5	+12.5	+12.5
3.	2	Dani SORDO	2:53:11.1	+4.6	+17.1
4.	12	Sebastien OGIER	2:54:29.8	+1:18.7	+1:35.8
5.	4	Jari-Matti LATVALA	2:54:58.5	+28.7	+2:04.5
6.	5	Matthew WILSON	2:58:32.8	+3:34.3	+5:38.8
7.	6	Henning SOLBERG	3:00:24.3	+1:51.5	+7:30.3
8.	9	Federico VILLAGRA	3:00:45.9	+21.6	+7:51.9
9.	62	Hayden PADDON	3:08:42.6	+7:56.7	+15:48.6
10.	31	Martin PROKOP	3:08:51.2	+8.6	+15:57.2
11.	50	Richard MASON	3:09:33.4	+42.2	+16:39.4
12.	59	Cody CROCKER	3:10:26.5	+53.1	+17:32.5
13.	39	Armindo ARAUJO	3:12:59.3	+2:32.8	+20:05.3
14.	45	Stewart TAYLOR	3:14:30.3	+1:31.0	+21:36.3
15.	68	Matthew SELLEY	3:23:54.3	+9:24.0	+31:00.3
16.	78	John GOASDOUE	3:30:41.8	+6:47.5	+37:47.8
17.	8	Conrad RAUTENBACH	3:34:41.8	+4:00.0	+41:47.8
18.	72	Stephen TONNA	3:38:52.0	+4:10.2	+45:58.0
19.	34	Gianluca LINARI	3:38:52.8	+0.8	+45:58.8
20.	15	Khalid AL QASSIMI	3:40:14.3	+1:21.5	+47:20.3

Drivers' championship standings after 10 rounds

Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Point
1.	M. HIRVONEN	6	8	8	8	R	8	10	10	10	8	76
2.	S. LOEB	10	10	10	10	10	5	R	2	8	10	75
3.	D. SORDO	8	4	5	6	8	0	0	8	5	6	50
4.	J-M LATVALA	0	6	0	R	3	10	6	R	6	4	35
5.	H. SOLBERG	5	5	0	4	6	1	0	6	0	2	29
6.	P. SOLBERG	-	3	6	5	R	6	R	5	R	-	25
7.	M. WILSON	2	2	4	R	4	3	0	4	1	3	23
8.	S. OGIER	3	0	R	0	2	R	8	R	3	5	21
9.	F. VILLAGRA	-	-	2	2	5	R	5	-	0	1	15
10.	C. RAUTENBACH	0	R	3	R	R	0	4	1	R	-	8
11.	M. OSTBERG	-	0	-	3	-	2	2	R	R	-	7
12.	K. AL-QASSIMI	1	-	1	1	-	0	3	-	0	-	6
13.	E. NOVIKOV	-	0	R	R	-	4	0	0	R	-	4
14.	C. ATKINSON	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
15.	M. RANTANEN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	4
16.	K. HOLOWCZYC	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	3
17.	J. KETOMAA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	2
18.	U. AAVA	0	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	0	-	1
19.	N. AL-ATTIYAH	-	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	0	-	1
20.	L. ATHANASSOULAS	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1

Manufacturers' championship standings after 10 rounds

Pos	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Point
1.	CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM	18	14	16	16	18	8	4	12	13	16	135
2.	BP FORD ABU DHABI WORLD RALLY TEAM	8	14	10	8	3	18	18	10	16	12	117
3.	STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM	8	8	6	5	10	7	5	11	4	5	69
4.	CITROEN JUNIOR RALLY TEAM	5	2	4	0	2	5	6	5	4	5	38
5.	MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM	-	-	3	4	5	0	6	-	2	1	21