Loeb wins Rally de Espana!
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.
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.

Final classification of the 45 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España
1-Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC), 3h 22'14"7
2-Dani Sordo/Marc Martí (Citroën C4 WRC), a 12"0
3-Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), a 54"1
4-Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Citroën C4 WRC), a 1'12"4
5-Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën C4 WRC), a 1'41"6
6-Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), a 2'49"8
7-Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 7'15"5
8-Federico Villagra/Jorge Pérez Companc (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 8'28"1
9-Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 9'07"6
10-Dany Snobeck/Gilles Mondesir (Peugeot 307 CC WRC), a 10'56"0

Classification of the World Rally Championship

Drivers
1- Mikko Hirvonen (Finland/Ford), 84 points
2- Sébastien Loeb (France/Citroën), 83 points
3- Dani Sordo (Spain/Citroën), 58 points
4- Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland/Ford), 39 points
5- Petter Solberg (Norway/Citroën), 30 points
6- Henning Solberg (Norway/Ford), 29 points
7- Matthew Wilson (Great Britain /Ford), 25 points
8- Sébastien Ogier (France/Citroën), 24 points
9- Federico Villagra (Argentina/Ford), 16 points
10- Conrad Rautenbach (Zimbabwe/Citroën), 8 points

Constructors/Teams
1- (Champion) Citroën Total World Rally Team, 151 points
2- BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, 130 points
3- Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team, 73 points
4- Citroën Junior Team, 42 points
5- Munchi's Ford World Rally Team, 23 points

Final Junior-WRC
1- (Champion) Martin Prokop (Czech Republic /Citroën), 46
2- (Runner-up) Michal Kosciuszko (Polonia/Suzuki), 42
3- Aaron Burkart (German/Suzuki), 39 points
4- Kevin Abbring (Netherlands/Renault), 27 points
5- Hans Weijs (Netherlands /Citroën), 26 points
5- Simone Bertolotti (Italia/Suzuki), 26 points

Loeb Fastest in Shakedown!

Here are today’s top ten Shakedown times:
1. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:36.4
2. OGIER. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:37.4
3. SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:37.9
4. P. SOLBERG. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:38.0
5. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 2:38.9
6. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 2:39.2
7. NOVIKOV. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:39.6
8. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:39.7
9. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:39.8
10. H.SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:41.3

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Shakedown and ceremonial start of the RallyRACC on Thursday
The Shakedown of the 45 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, i.e the “dress rehearsal” before the start of real competition, will take place this Thursday, 1 October in the morning. This test session which will be held on the 4.32 initial kilometres of stage 13 and 16, Riudecanyes, to be raced on the third Day, from Les Irles to Coll de la Teixeta, will be divided into two parts, the first from 8.00 to 12.00h during which only P1, P2 and P3 priority drivers will be allowed to drive (the latter being able to cover the stage only between 10.00 and 12.00h), and the second from 12.30 to 14.30 for the rest of the non-priority drivers.
Due to the reduced parking space available, participants will not have the usual service facilities. It is only allowed to have one fast service vehicle per entered car, which will be located a few metres before the start. The logistics base will be the Service Park in Port Aventura, located 26 km from the Shakedown. After the first passage of the Shakedown stage, the vehicles will be able to return to the start in Les Irles following the N-420 road.
During the Shakedown, participants must wear their helmets and their whole safety equipment, and the cars must be fitted with their competition numbers and rally plates, so that the shakedown becomes a real trial for drivers, machines and teams, as well as for media photographers.
Ceremonial start, at 20.00h in Salou
The rally will have its official start at the ceremonial start, to be held tomorrow, Thursday. It is actually only a formal start ceremony but it is a way to gather all teams having passed scrutineering in their starting order and have an official start of the race. This ceremony will be held at 20.00h on the podium located on the Salou Promenade, and the cars will be starting in one minute gaps. One hour before, Loeb, Sordo, Hirvonen, Latvala and the Solberg brothers, together with their co-drivers, will be signing autographs for all fans next to the pre-start park. The Vehicles with History will also be exhibited there, so that more than 100 competition vehicles - and the best drivers of the moment - will contribute with their presence to the colour of a WRC round.
Press conference with Dani Sordo
Tomorrow, Thursday, 1 October, the usual FIA pre-rally press conference will be held from 13.30h at the Media Centre in the PortAventura Convention Centre. Entrance is obviously reserved for accredited journalists. The drivers attending will be from the J-WRC Hans Weijs and Simone Bertolotti, and from the WRC Mikko Hirvonen, Sébastien Loeb, Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg.

Loeb-Sordo (Citroën) VS Hirvonen-Latvala (Ford): the big duel arrives in Spain
Next Thursday, 1 October, the ceremonial start of the 45 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, will give the start to something more than another round of the World Rally Championship.  The participants of one of the most decisive editions of the Spanish WRC round will gather on the podium in Salou.
Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), the big favourite, will fight with all his might against Mikko Hirvonen (Ford), the big leader, in a race in which the performance of the second drivers of each of the teams, Dani Sordo in Citroën and Jari-MattiLAtvala in Ford, will become of vital importance. Today, the drivers are driving along the stages doing the reconnaissance of the event on the Costa Daurada, and the teams are giving the finishing touches to the machines at the Service Park in PortAventura. Meanwhile, there is a rising excitement in the atmosphere: the world championship titles are at stake.
Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), five times World Champion and four times winner of the RallyRACC: "I’ll take the start with the conviction that there is no other choice than finishing the season with a perfect final balance, that is, I must win both rallies. At this Catalunya rally we will need team work from Dani and Marc more than ever. If Mikko Hirvonen finishes second, he would just need to be second in Wales to become champion.  We must be fast in Catalunya, almost as if we were racing on a racetrack, braking as late as possible, stretching the lines. I like these special stages and the driving style they demand".
Mikko Hirvonen (Ford), leader in the standings and current runner-up in the world championship: "The coaching with Rob Wilson is something I’ve been doing for the past three years and it’s been always good. The car felt excellent during the test, so we’ll see how it does on the roads. I covered 350 km in one day and that’s the same distance of the Rally de España in the three Days. I don’t feel under pressure, it’s just an exciting situation. I have the chance to win the title but I keep my feet on the ground. I don’t have any expectations and that’s the way I’ve taken off the pressure. During the last five races I’ve been proving things to myself which I needed on this day".
Dani Sordo (Citroën), 3rd in the championship: "My aim is to finish the rally second behind Seb, and that would be perfect since it would give Citroën the manufacturers’ title. We already made it, so we can make it again."

New Fiesta R2 set for competition debut in Spain
Ford's new Fiesta R2 rally car is set to make its WRC competition debut at the Rally de Espana - the penultimate round of the 2009 Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi).
The 1600cc front-wheel R2 was unveiled in May, on the eve of the Rally d’Italia - Sardinia, where it was driven as a course safety car by FSTi Shootout winner Matthias Boon.
The R2 will get its first taste of proper WRC competition this week at the hands of five FSTi competitors. Four other crews registered for the competition in Spain will be driving the earlier ST model.
Series leader Patrick Anglade is locked in a battle with FST UK and Ireland champion Craig Breen for the 2009 FSTi title and the result of the Spanish event could go a long way to deciding this year's championship.
Breen took victory at Rally Finland in August closing the gap on series leader Anglade to 40 points. But, with the option to drop two scores, the fight is expected to go right to the wire at the final round, Wales Rally GB.
Anglade will be driving a Fiesta ST in Spain, hoping that the proven set-up and reliability of the car will aide his title challenge. Breen, meanwhile, will be in an R2 - his prize for winning the FST Ireland title.
Another man at the wheel of a R2 in Spain is Greek driver Lambros Athanassoulas, who returns to the series after a three-year absence.
Athanassoulas, an FSTi winner in Germany in 2006, has already made a big impression on the WRC this season, taking a remarkable eighth place overall at his home event, the Acropolis Rally of Greece, winning the P-WRC category in a Skoda Fabia S2000

Ford team hope practice makes perfect
The BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team will arrive in Spain this week after an intensive period of asphalt driving preparation, including an extended pre-event test and expert coaching for drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hirvonen takes a five-point championship lead into this crucial, penultimate round of the series after winning the last four events. He will be supported by fellow Finn Latvala whose victory in Italy in May began a five-rally winning streak that is Ford's best-ever in the WRC.
Hirvonen visited Britain a fortnight ago for a day's driving training with former European FIA Endurance Touring Car champion Rob Wilson. He then completed three days' testing on roads in Catalonia close to where the rally is based. Latvala took tuition from ex-Finnish touring car champion Olli Haapalainen before his two-day stint at the test.
The Spanish session was launched by ex-Ford driver Markko Martin, who won back-to-back asphalt rallies in a Focus RS WRC in France and Spain in 2004. He spent two days with the team, using his sealed surface expertise to advise on car set-up. The trio completed 1450km in six days, with Hirvonen completing a marathon 350km in just one day - the same distance as the entire three day rally.
Hirvonen, who has six starts in Spain to his name, claimed his first WRC podium on this rally in 2005. Although he has a five-point cushion over Sebastien Loeb at the top of the standings, he acknowledges his rival will be extremely tough to beat on his favoured surface, and has set his sights instead on the runner's up spot. "Everyone knows how strong Loeb is on asphalt so I think there's enough of a fight for me to try to get second. Eight points would help greatly ahead of the last round but won't be easy to achieve," he said
As the series heads for a nail-biting conclusion, Hirvonen, 29, said he had no concerns at going head-to-head with the five time champion: "I'm not feeling under pressure. It's just really exciting. I have a chance to win the title but I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I have no expectations at all and that way I've taken the pressure away, I've put it to one side. I've had a good feeling for the last five events and I've proved things to myself that I needed to."
Latvala, who completed 550km in testing, is preparing for his sixth start in Spain. "After practising on a race circuit in Finland, I was able to work on what I learned on the roads in Spain. Every year there is less and less opportunity to cut corners on this rally because barriers are placed on the inside of bends to prevent it. So the stages have become more and more comparable to a race circuit and the coaching I have done is perfect preparation for that type of road.
"This will be the team's most difficult rally for some time, but I was really happy with my test and pleased with the car's set-up. I finished sixth last year and hope to improve on that. But my main target here is to again help Mikko. He is challenging for the title and I want to do all I can to support him and help him achieve that," added Latvala.
Khalid Al Qassimi will drive the team's third Focus RS WRC on the Abu Dhabi driver's third Spanish start. "The asphalt surface is going to present new challenges and I will need to concentrate on a different set of skills to the last few rallies. The stages will be fast and more streamlined, but I'll push with everything I have to try to finish in the points," he said.

Hirvonen aiming for second in Spain
Drivers' championship leader Mikko Hirvonen is targeting second place on the forthcoming Rally de Espana, a result he believes would give him the upper hand over title rival Sebastien Loeb on the final, decisive round in Great Britain.
Hirvonen looked to have conceded two points to five-time champion Loeb after finishing second to the Frenchman on the last round in Australia, but was later handed the victory when all three Citroen C4 drivers were given penalties for a technical infringement.
Hirvonen's post event promotion meant that instead of going to Catalunya with only a one point lead in the drivers' championship, he takes a five point cushion.
Hirvonen had to settle for third in Spain last year, after Loeb and Sordo dominated the event in their Citroen C4 WRCs - taking their third consecutive 1-2 finish on the all-asphalt rally.
Talking EXCLUSIVELY to wrc.com, Hirvonen admitted that beating four time Spain winner Loeb wasn't his priority next week, instead he felt he would have his hands full fending off the challenges from the other Citroen C4 entries.
"I think that if there are no mistakes the [title] fight is going to go to GB anyway. But Sebastien has always been strong in Spain and I expect he will be again this year. So I think there's enough of a fight for me just to try and get second place - that's what I'll try to do," he said.
"Eight points would help me a lot for GB, but it's going to be a very hard thing to do against Sordo, Sebastien Ogier and now Petter who's helping Citroen as well. There's going to be lots of fighting to do, but I hope I'll have the speed to get to second place."

Petter Solberg happy with C4 for Spain - more on this here

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