There's Snow Stopping Loeb & Citroën in the World Rally Championship
16/02/2009
Sébastien Loeb guided his Citroën C4 WRC to his 49th World Rally Championship win at the weekend (13-15 February) in Norway, further extending the French driver’s lead in the 2009 Drivers’ championship fight. Loeb’s win was his first ever success in Norway and enables him to set yet another world record, having won 20 different events in his career as he edges closer to becoming the first driver ever to record a half century of wins.
Given the Scandinavian drivers’ domination of their home events, Loeb’s win was not a foregone conclusion at the start of the event especially as at the end of Day One the Ford team took a tactical decision which, in the past, has provided them with victory. Having lead on the first day, Ford’s Hirvonen handed the lead – by just 2.6 seconds – to Loeb so that on Day Two the Citroën driver would be the road sweeper, enabling, so Ford hoped, their drivers set faster stage times behind him and take the lead by a large enough margin to see them to the end of the event. But Loeb had other plans. Not only did he keep the lead provided to him by the Ford drivers, by the end of Day Two he had stretched it to a little over 15 seconds. While not a comfortable cushion, it meant that Loeb lead into the final day which, unusually, was also the longest of the event, so Loeb had to be on top performance right to the end of the event. 
“A snowplough had been through overnight and I found myself having to sweep aside the layer of loose snow that was covering the ice,” said Loeb explaining how he’d lost time on the first stages of the day. “I drove well, but there was nothing much I could about it.”
On Elverum 1, Sébastien profited from a clearer run to retrieve 6.1s, before dropping another 1.2s on Budor 1. Even so, the five-time World Champion was pleased to return to service with his cushion at the top basically unchanged. “We managed to match Mikko's time for the three stages, so we more than limited the damage. The closer we get to the end of the rally, the harder it will be for him to bridge the gap. That said, I don't really know what sort of conditions to expect for the second pass.”
After the 30-minute break for service, competitors headed back out to Valer where Hirvonen was once again the faster of the two drivers, and another strong drive on Elverum 2 saw the Finn close to within 7.7s of Loeb with only one test remaining. This meant that the second round of the 2009 World Rally Championship would be settled on the 19.74km Bodum stage, a test reputed for its long straights which enable the cars to exceed 200 kmh on sheet ice .... Despite the reassuring split times that were coming through, the tension was palpable in the Citroën camp, but the engineers and mechanics were able to show their joy at last when Daniel Elena radioed to confirm they he and Sébastien had completed the final stage unscathed. “It's sometimes nice when it stops," he announced after they had claimed the fastest time to win Rally Norway by less than 10 seconds. “Mentally, this has been a very tough rally. It got very tense when I learnt that Mikko had narrowed the gap on this morning's first stage, but we didn't ease up, even if that did mean having one or two hairy moments! Going into the last stage, I knew that even a small mistake would ruin all the hard work we have put in this weekend. Everything turned out well, however, and it's great to have won this rally for the first time," beamed Sébastien afterwards. "It's been a fantastic rally and the conditions were perfect form start to finish. Our C4 WRC was a big ally, too, in terms of both its performance and its reliability.”
Dani Sordo started the day in fifth place and held position to the flag to achieve his objective. "It wasn't an easy day. Our aim was to make sure of scoring Manufacturers' points for Citroën but I wasn't one hundred per cent relaxed this morning, especially on the first stage where I was using my pacenotes from 2007. I went better second time round and I am pleased with this afternoon's result which means Citroën stays 10 points clear at the top of the table.” With a score of two wins from two to kick off his team's 2009 campaign, Olivier Quesnel was very upbeat about the way the year has started. “We began the weekend as outsiders but the rally unfolded much the same way as it did in Finland in 2008," pointed out the Director of Citroën Sport. "Hats off to Mikko Hirvonen. He put up a great fight, and I think both drivers were at the same level here in Norway. It was very close. By winning their 20th different World Championship round, Sébastien and Daniel have provided further evidence of their extraordinary versatility. Dani also had a good run. We held him back a bit today because it was vital for us to make sure we scored points if ever Sébastien hit a problem. Once again, he has made a key contribution to Citroën's overall result.”
Fastest stage times
Day 1: SS1 : P. Solberg (Citroën Xsara) – SS2 : M. Hirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS3 : S. Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS4 and 5 : M. Hirvonen – SS6 et 7 : P-G. Andersson (Skoda Fabia) – SS8 : M. Hirvonen – SS9 : S. Loeb.
Day 2: SS10 to 13 : S. Loeb – SS14 : H. Solberg (Ford Focus) – SS15 and 16 : JM. Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS17 : S. Loeb.
Day 3: SS18 : M. Hirvonen – SS19 : S. Loeb – SS20 to 22 : M. Hirvonen – SS23 : S. Loeb.
Best performers
S. Loeb, 9 fastest times – M. Hirvonen, 8 – JM. Latvala and PG. Andersson, 2 – P. Solberg and H. Solberg 1.
Leaders
SS1: P. Solberg – SS2 : M. Hirvonen – SS3 : S. Loeb – SS4 to 8 : M. Hirvonen – SS9 to 23 : S.Loeb.
Final overall classification
1. Loeb/Elena Citroën C4 3h28’15’’9
2. Hirvonen/Lehtinen Ford Focus +9’’8
3. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +1’21’’8
4. H. Solberg/Menkerud Ford Focus +3’33’’5
5. Sordo/Marti Citroën C4 +3’52’’0
6. P. Solberg/Mills Citroën Xsara +6’25’’4
7. Wilson/Martin Ford Focus +6’35’’6
8. Aava/Sikk Ford Focus +6’49’’1
9. Řstberg/Unnerud Subaru Impreza +10’00’’5
10. Ogier/Ingrassia Citroën C4 +12’49’’8
11. Novikov/Moscatt Citroën C4 +15’21’’0
