2009 WRC : Loeb wins Rally de España!

2009 Rallye de España winner - Sebastien Loeb with Daniel Elena - Citroen C4 WRC - Citroen Total World Rally Team

La Serra d'Almos, Spain : October 4, 2009 - Frenchman Sebastien Loeb cruised through the final stage of the Rally de Espana today to take victory in his Citroen C4 WRC and ensure his fight for a sixth World Rally Championship title will go to the final, decisive round in Great Britain later this month.

2009 Rallye de España winner - Sebastien Loeb with Daniel Elena - Citroen C4 WRC - Citroen Total World Rally Team

The result was Loeb's fifth consecutive win on the all-asphalt Spanish round of the series, the 53rd of his remarkable WRC career and his sixth this season.

Loeb's Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo was second, 12.0sec adrift, to complete a perfect one-two finish for the Citroen Total World Rally Team - enough to guarantee the French firm the 2009 FIA WRC title for Manufacturers with one round to go.

As they have for the last three years, Loeb and Sordo controlled the Spanish event from beginning to end. And while an excellent drive from Citroen's number two Sordo made life tough for Loeb on the opening two days, he moved aside before today's contest, giving the defending champion a reasonably straightforward task on the final six stages.

Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena climbed onto the roof of their C4 at the finish of SS17 to celebrate their victory.

"This one was tough," insisted Loeb, "because Dani was pushing very hard at the start, so we tried to fight, but we knew also that we mustn't make any mistakes just fighting together - it was so important for us to finish. But we were really confident. It was really a pleasure to drive again on tarmac - for me it’s been a long time since we did it. And the result now should be perfect, I'm really happy, I enjoyed it a lot."

Sordo and his co-driver Marc Marti jumped out of their car to congratulate their team-mates at the stage end. "It's second but I'm glad to have helped Sebastien with his championship today and also the manufacturers' championship for Citroen. But also for me it’s been a very good weekend!" he said.

Loeb began this rally five points adrift of drivers' championship leader Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team, who brought his Focus RS WRC home third. Hirvonen still holds the lead of the series, but with only a one point advantage the scene is set for a thrilling winner-takes-all showdown on the final round which gets underway on 23 October.

Hirvonen ended the rally 54.1sec behind the Citroen pair, after a largely frustrating event where he remained stuck fast in third; unable to catch Loeb and Sordo ahead, but never seriously troubled by the Citroen C4 drivers Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier behind. "It wasn't the best rally but, you know, it just means it's going to be all to do on GB - and that's going to be some rally," said Hirvonen. "Not a bad weekend, though, now we'll see how it goes on the next one. I'm looking forward to it. I'm waiting for that fight - it's going to be a fantastic weekend. We'll see - it might be a bit exciting!"

Fourth place went to Norwegian Petter Solberg, who sealed his best tarmac result since the 2005 Tour de Corse at the wheel of his new Citroen C4 WRC. The 2003 world champion looked emotionally drained as he arrived at the finish line.

"This is the end of three years of frustration," he said. "I just don't have words for this now. I just keep thinking if... if I have been in a better position earlier, you know? It’s wrong to say it feels easy, but it feels so special. It’s a special moment for me to have this opportunity to drive this car. I thank the team and Citroen for letting me do this. I hope people see that I will be fast, but you need the support of a manufacturer team - it’s impossible to do it alone. In Wales I will be up there fighting."

Fifth went to Citroen Junior team driver Sebastien Ogier, who was left ruing a brake problem on Friday morning which dropped him out of podium contention. "The first part of the rally was difficult, but from the second loop of day one it's been a good fight every time with Mikko and Petter so it’s a very good weekend for us," he said. "From Greece my season has been getting better and better, now we want to finish well in Wales to prepare for next season."

Jari-Matti Latvala brought his Ford Focus RS to the line in sixth place overall, but in the stage winning time - by one-tenth. "It's fantastic, I've never been fastest on a stage in Catalunya before," grinned Latvala. "It feels good - I don't know how it's possible, because we drove carefully through there. Obviously I haven't been on the pace but at least we can be very positive that our driving has been very consistent, we've improved all the time and there are no marks on the car. That's a big relief for when I go and see [team boss] Malcolm Wilson!"

Briton Matthew Wilson was seventh in his Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC. Wilson said: "It’s been a difficult weekend - I would say this is probably one of the hardest tarmac rallies there is, so it takes a lot to master. It's been okay, a difficult weekend, with some difficult stages. I'm looking forward to Wales and getting back on gravel."

On his last rally of the season, Argentinean Federico Villagra took the final championship point for finishing eighth in his Munchi's team Ford Focus. "We improved a lot this weekend so I'm happy to finish eighth and take another point. Every stage here it got better and better for us, so I'm very happy," he said.

2009 WRC Round 11 : Rallye de España

Pos	No	Driver	Time	Diff Next	Diff 1st
1.	1	Sébastien LOEB	3:22:14.7	0.0	0.0
2.	2	Daniel SORDO	3:22:26.7	+12.0	+12.0
3.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	3:23:08.8	+42.1	+54.1
4.	11	Petter SOLBERG	3:23:27.1	+18.3	+1:12.4
5.	12	Sebastien OGIER	3:23:56.3	+29.2	+1:41.6
6.	4	Jari-Matti LATVALA	3:25:04.5	+1:08.2	+2:49.8
7.	5	Matthew WILSON	3:29:30.2	+4:25.7	+7:15.5
8.	9	Federico VILLAGRA	3:30:42.8	+1:12.6	+8:28.1
9.	6	Henning SOLBERG	3:31:22.3	+39.5	+9:07.6
10.	66	Dany SNOBECK	3:33:10.7	+1:48.4	+10:56.0
11.	8	Conrad RAUTENBACH	3:33:22.3	+11.6	+11:07.6
12.	36	Hans WEIJS	3:40:35.5	+7:13.2	+18:20.8
13.	74	Eyvind BRYNILDSEN	3:41:22.7	+47.2	+19:08.0
14.	14	Khalid AL QASSIMI	3:41:26.0	+3.3	+19:11.3
15.	93	. ASI	3:41:43.9	+17.9	+19:29.2
16.	78	Hermann GASSNER JUN	3:44:18.2	+2:34.3	+22:03.5
17.	63	Jarkko NIKARA	3:45:20.5	+1:02.3	+23:05.8
18.	33	Simone BERTOLOTTI	3:45:24.6	+4.1	+23:09.9
19.	59	Jordi MARTÍ	3:46:58.3	+1:33.7	+24:43.6
20.	67	Graham COFFEY	3:48:24.4	+1:26.1	+26:09.7

Drivers' championship standings after 11 rounds

Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Point
1.	M. HIRVONEN	6	8	8	8	R	8	10	10	10	10	6	84
2.	S. LOEB	10	10	10	10	10	5	R	2	8	8	10	83
3.	D. SORDO	8	4	5	6	8	0	0	8	5	6	8	58
4.	J-M LATVALA	0	6	0	R	3	10	6	R	6	5	3	39
5.	P. SOLBERG	-	3	6	5	R	6	R	5	R	-	5	30
6.	H. SOLBERG	5	5	0	4	6	1	0	6	0	2	0	29
7.	M. WILSON	2	2	4	R	4	3	0	4	1	3	2	25
8.	S. OGIER	3	0	R	0	2	R	8	R	3	4	4	24
9.	F. VILLAGRA	-	-	2	2	5	R	5	-	0	1	1	16
10.	C. RAUTENBACH	0	R	3	R	R	0	4	1	R	R	0	8
11.	M. OSTBERG	-	0	-	3	-	2	2	R	R	-	-	7
12.	K. AL-QASSIMI	1	-	1	1	-	0	3	-	0	0	0	6
13.	E. NOVIKOV	-	0	R	R	-	4	0	0	R	-	0	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
19.	N. AL-ATTIYAH	-	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	0	-	-	1
20.	L. ATHANASSOULAS	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	0	1

Manufacturers' championship standings after 11 rounds

Pos	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Point
1.	CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM	18	14	16	16	18	8	4	12	13	14	18	151
2.	BP FORD ABU DHABI WORLD RALLY TEAM	8	14	10	8	3	18	18	10	16	15	10	130
3.	STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM	8	8	6	5	10	7	5	11	4	5	4	73
4.	CITROEN JUNIOR RALLY TEAM	5	2	4	0	2	5	6	5	4	4	5	42
5.	MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM	-	-	3	4	5	0	6	-	2	1	2	23