Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena took victory in Rally Finland last weekend for a second time following an almost flawless performance in their Citroen DS3 WRC.
The seven-time world champions were the front-runners on the road on all three days of the high-speed gravel racing and edged their way to victory ahead of the Ford Fiesta of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila while Citroen teammates Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished third.
Loeb’s win, the 66th of his world championship career, extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ points standings heading into round nine of the World Rally Championship, ADAC Rally Deutschland (WRC German Rally).
Citroen driver Petter Solberg began the final day of the event in fourth position and although he managed to fend off Mads Ostberg, he failed to fend off Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen who relegated Solberg to fifth place in the closing stage.
Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala started the final day 2.6s behind leader Sebastien Loeb, but the combination of a wet road surface, which helped Loeb and hindered Latvala who also suffered a handling issue with his factory Ford, meant the gap, although narrowing, on the lead Citroen was too big to close.
Petter Solberg, world champion in 2003, in his Citroen DS3 WRC finished in fifth position while Ex Formula 1 World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen came home ninth but could have done a lot better if he had not damaged the front of his Racing Citroen during stage 17.
Super 2000 World Rally Championship winner Juho Hanninen completed the point scorers in 10th overall at the wheel of his Red Bull Skoda, one place ahead of Dennis Kuipers’ Fiesta, who impressed on his Rally Finland debut.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Khlaid Al Qassimi celebrated the four-year anniversary of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s support of the WRC by finishing 14th. The disappointing and ordinary performances by the John Cooper Works WRCs and Volkswagen Motorsport Skoda Fabias will be addressed by their respective teams before the next WRC round.