LOEB WINS (AGAIN)!
Petter heads a trio of top 10 Norwegians
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Improved Ford Focus ready for Portugal
Gronholm to compete in Impreza WRC 08

Sebastien Loeb wins Rally Portugal!
Citroen Total team driver Sebastien Loeb has won the Vodafone Rally Portugal and extended his unbroken run of victories to all four of the WRC rounds run so far this year.
The win was the 51st in Loeb’s record breaking WRC career, and puts him in a commanding lead of this year’s drivers’ championship, with a perfect maximum score of 40 points.
In front of tens of thousands of cheering fans, the Frenchman had a clean run through the rally closing Algarve Stadium Super Special, to secure victory over Finn Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team by 24.3 seconds.
“It’s incredible - apart from our mistake on Friday’s first stage it’s been almost a perfect rally!” said Loeb. “After that I was really motivated to do well, so we pushed on the limit all the time. Saturday and Sunday were much better days, we had no problems at all and the car was perfect. I’m very, very happy. Now anything is possible!”
Finishing as runner up to Loeb for the third time this season, Hirvonen netted another eight drivers’ championship points and remained Sebastien’s closest rival on a total of 30.
“I started the day thinking a win was possible but the dust hung in the air and I realised after the opening stage that in those conditions I had no chance of catching Sebastien,” he said. “I hoped to win here but it wasn't meant to be. I think second place was the maximum I could achieve. Eight points is good for me because many drivers scored zero.”
Third place went to Loeb’s Spanish team-mate, Dani Sordo, who played the perfect back-up role, taking his second podium this season in his C4. “I’m really happy with the way this weekend has gone,” said Sordo. “My feeling with the car and pace notes was good. We make a couple of small mistakes but I’m feeling confident ahead of the next round in Argentina.”

Petter heads a trio of top 10 Norwegians
Citroen privateer Petter Solberg finished Rally Portugal in fourth place today, the first of a WRC record breaking number of Norwegians inside the top 10.
After Petter had completed his warm-down lap of the Super Special hanging from his car and waving at the crowds, he said he couldn’t have asked for more from his 2005-specification Xsara.
“It’s been a very good rally for us,” said Petter. "I don’t think I could have done any better here with this car. I was on the limit all the time and did everything I could. In the circumstances I’m very happy to be the best non manufacturer car - the best of the rest!”
Three minutes behind Petter in fifth was his elder brother Henning. “After all the problems we had earlier in this rally I’m pleased to get a top five place,” said the Stobart Ford driver. “We’ve been fighting all the way through, and this is a great result for Norway - you can see we’re getting closer and closer to the top!”
Rounding off the Norwegian lock-out was Adapta Subaru driver Mads Ostberg, who celebrated a career best sixth place in a WRC rally.
“I’m obviously very happy,” said Mads. “The weekend got better and better as it went on, and the speed has improved all weekend. It was helpful to run alongside Marcus Gronholm, he gave me a lot of help. At the end of the rally it’s an honour to be up here with the Solbergs!”

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SS1: Henning takes the rally lead!
Henning Solberg moved into an early lead of the 2009 Rally Portugal after setting the fastest time on Thursday evening’s Algarve Stadium Super Special Stage.
The Ford Focus RS WRC driver completed the 2.1km head-to-head test in 2min 09.6sec, one-tenth of a second quicker than his nearest rival, Citroen driver Dani Sordo.
Sweeping hairpin bends, tight and tricky corners and a table-top jump made the test a challenge for the 68 starters, as well as dazzling viewing for both the fans and TV viewers across the country who watched the action live on television.
More than 20,000 crammed into the converted football stadium, and most were on their feet as Solberg waved from his car on his warm-down lap.
After the disappointment of his previous rally, when he crashed en-route to the first stage, Henning was delighted to have turned his fortunes around and to be leading a rally for the first time in his WRC career. “It’s coming better and better - this will be my rally - for sure!” he said. “I tried very hard to concentrate in there and it felt really good - now I want to go fast on the rest of the rally.”
Mikko Hirvonen received one of the loudest cheers of the evening when he lined up for the start with the Portuguese flag attached to the roof of his Ford Focus RS WRC. He went on to defeat Sebastien Loeb in his pairing by 1.1sec to post third fastest time.
"What a great start!" said Hirvonen. "The atmosphere in there was incredible. The fans are amazing and I think they appreciated us carrying the flag on the car. Having beaten Sebastien here, I don't think I need to tell anyone what my ambition is for the rest of the weekend."
Loeb was fourth fastest, and felt the Ford drivers’ decision to tackle the stage on worn tyres had helped them. “It’s not so much time to lose, but I think it dropped some on the first lap,” said Loeb. “I think we had too much tread on our tyres. But it’s okay, it’s just a just a short stage. We’ll see how we get on tomorrow.”
Jari-Matti Latvala was fifth quickest, 2.9sec off Henning’s winning pace. “Two years ago I hit a few barriers and made some mistakes but I didn't do that this evening," he said. Now I'm looking forward to driving on the gravel stages tomorrow."
Tackling his first WRC stage since 2007, Marcus Gronholm was sixth in his Subaru Impreza WRC2008. “It’s okay. I would have liked to have been a bit quicker but we had a little understeer so it wasn’t possible,” said the Finn.
The first section of the rally continues tomorrow when drivers leave Faro from 0920hrs to tackle six gravel stages in the hills north of the town.

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Improved Ford Focus ready for Portugal
The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team will introduce an uprated, more powerful version of its Focus World Rally Car on the forthcoming Rally Portugal.
A newly-homologated engine has been fitted to the cars of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala, which includes a new electric water pump and a lightweight flywheel.
During a four-day pre-event test in the Extremadura region of Spain last week, both drivers reported a slight improvement in outright engine performance from the upgrades.
Hirvonen, who lies second in the drivers' standings, was fifth in Portugal when the rally was last run in 2007 and was encouraged by his performance on gravel during the second and third days in Cyprus earlier this month.
"I'm confident of matching the pace I showed then because my speed, especially on the drier sections, gave me plenty of belief for the gravel events to come. The engine upgrades are another step forward. Although the nature of the regulations means huge steps forward are impossible to achieve, there is more power and a bit more response and that will all help," he said.
"They are enjoyable stages to drive and Portugal is the rally I like most in the southern Europe and Mediterranean regions. The roads will be abrasive if conditions are dry because some sections have a solid bedrock base with a sandy surface on top. You don't see many loose rocks compared to Greece and Turkey, but the hard base does make it hard for tyres," he added.
Latvala was eighth two years ago and the 23-year-old is relishing a series of seven consecutive gravel events. "The start to the season was tough, and the rallies in Ireland and Cyprus were probably the most difficult I will face this year. Now we start the gravel events which comprise the bulk of the championship and I'm happy about that. I've tested the new engine and while it's not always easy to feel small improvements behind the wheel, I'm sure we will see them in our times," he said.
"The road surface is very abrasive and hard for the tyres, but it gives good grip. The tracks aren't rough and the stages contain a mix of narrow sections and wider areas. It's important to be careful on the exit of corners because there are often small trees on the outside waiting to catch a driver who slides wide so keeping the driving line precise is crucial," added the Finn.
Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr will drive a third Focus RS WRC for the team. Al Qassimi has finished in the points on both his outings this season and this will be the 37-year-old's debut in Portugal. "Tackling a rally for the first time is always a difficult challenge. It takes time to understand the characteristics of the roads and a driver is always at a disadvantage against rivals who have previous experience. It's important to make the most of the opportunity and drive all the stages. An early retirement on either of the first two days can mean missing well over a third of the rally's distance and that's a lot of experience to miss out on," said Al Qassimi.

Gronholm to compete in Impreza WRC 08
Prodrive has unveiled the Subaru Impreza WRC2008 Marcus Gronholm will drive on the Rally of Portugal
The two-time World Rally Champion will have three days to familiarise himself with the new car before starting his first World Rally Championship event in nearly 16 months. Gronholm drove a Subaru test car in Wales last week and will carry out a further two day pre-event test in Spain this week.
Gronholm’s Impreza is fundamentally the same as the ones used by Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson at the Subaru World Rally Team last season.
“We have only been able to make minor changes to the car because of homologation restrictions, with the most significant difference being the Ohlins dampers,” said Prodrive technical director, David Lapworth.
“In a perfect world, Marcus would have had far more time behind the wheel, however, with his years of experience, I am absolutely confident he will very quickly find a rhythm in the Impreza,” he added.
Gronholm’s participation in the Rally of Portugal has been made possible by the support of the Portuguese Tourist Board. The car has been entered under the Prodrive team name and will be run from the same service area as the Prodrive-supported Adapta World Rally Team.

Ford’s one-make championship kicks off in Portugal
The Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) will return to the World Rally Championship for its fourth successive season later this month when the opening round of the series gets underway on Rally Portugal.
Run by M-Sport, with support by Pirelli, the championship features a new name (it was previously known as the Fiesta SportingTrophy) new prizes and a new scoring system for 2009.
The six-round series is run alongside the main WRC competition and is based around a two-litre front-wheel drive Ford Fiesta ST GpN car, which produces 165bhp.
After the first round of the series in Portugal the series returns on the Rally d’Italia Sardegna, Neste Oil Rally Finland, Rally de Espana and finally Wales Rally GB. Of the six eligible rounds, the best points from four will count towards the championship standings.
A new scoring system has been introduced this year which awards points for every stage won. Rally wins will still be given maximum credit, however, and points will be offered to the top ten drivers on a 30-25-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10 basis.
The prize for the championship winner will be an all-expenses-paid test in the latest specification Ford Focus RS WRC with Ford factory driver Mikko Hirvonen, plus dinner with the Finn and M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson. The winner of each rally will also receive a €1,500 M-Sport voucher.
Rally Portugal marks the season debut for three Emirati drivers Bader Al Jabri, Ahmed Al and Majed Al Shamsi who are competing for the Team Abu Dhabi Junior Programme. Also competing in the FSTi category are Patrick Anglade from Germany, Ireland’s Craig Breen and Russia’s Denis Grodetskiy. Thanks to WRC.com

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