Posted: September 25, 2006 3:24 PM
FRENCHMAN LOEB CLINCHES 28TH
WRC WIN WITH VICTORY IN CYPRUS
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb continued to rewrite the
history books by securing a record-breaking 28th WRC victory of his short
career in the Cyprus Rally, round 12 of the 2006 FIA World Rally
Championship.
Partnered by Daniel Elena, Loeb moved ahead of arch rival Marcus Grönholm,
from Finland, on the 14th sinuous gravel special stage in the Troodos
foothills and the Paphos valleys and eventually reached the finish with a
comfortable winning margin of 21.2 seconds.
The victory the Frenchman's eighth of the season - virtually assures him
a third WRC title in Turkey in a few weeks time and maintains the Kronos
Total Citroën Team's advantage over BP-Ford in the Manufacturers' series,
albeit to a reduced advantage of just seven points, with four events still
to run.
"Another great win for me," said Loeb. "It was another difficult challenge
here in Cyprus and Marcus pushed me very hard for two days. Now we can
hopefully go to Turkey and confirm the championship."
Grönholm was forced to play the bridesmaid once again, but collected eight
valuable championship points for the Ford team and Finnish team mate Mikko
Hirvonen was third overall in a second Ford Focus to add six more to the
Blue Oval's points' tally.
The Finn began the day 21.8 seconds behind the Frenchman, but Loeb extended
his lead to 29.1 seconds after the punishing 25.24 km of the stage between
Vavatsinia to Mandra Kambiou. Grönholm clawed two seconds back in the 18th
stage and 1.5 seconds in SS19 to arrive at the mid-day service in Limassol
25.6 seconds behind Loeb.
Teams then tackled a sell-out Down Town Special in the winding back streets
of Limassol for the first time. The footage was beamed live across Europe
and Loeb was in a class of his own, posting the fastest time of 2m 53.9s,
3.5 seconds quicker than Toni Gardemeister's Citroën Xsara. Grönholm
noticeably eased his pace to conserve the runner-up spot, but Limassol
special stage times did not count towards the overall results after the FIA
insisted the special ran purely as entertainment value to spectators on
safety grounds.
"It was a big ask to try and catch Séb today," said Grönholm. "The team
decided that it was more important that we confirmed second place and
collected championship points. After the first stage this morning it was
time to be sensible."
Austria's Manfred Stohl finished fourth overall in his OMV-backed Peugeot,
well ahead of Finland's Toni Gardemeister and sixth-placed Xavier Pons. A
disgruntled Petter Solberg was eighth in the first of the factory Subarus,
his brother Henning overhauling Petter on the final section of the last
stage. Australia's Chris Atkinson and young Matthew Wilson completed the
top 10.
Spaniard Dani Sordo looked all set to claim a crucial Manufacturers' point
for the Kronos Citroën team until he ploughed into a low concrete wall on
the Down Town Special stage in Limassol and retired. With SupeRally
penalties he slipped behind Matthew Wilson and out of the points.
Japan's Fumio Nutahara started the final leg of five special stages with a
commanding 4m 14.7s lead over Finland's Aki Teiskonen, with the 2004 FIA
Middle East champion Khalid Al-Qassimi in third. The three held station
over the final stages, with Nutahara moving ever closer to Qatar's Nasser
Saleh Al-Attiyah in the P-WRC points' standings.
Al-Attiyah began the morning fifth of the P-WRC's registered contenders in
his bid to stay ahead of Nutahara and Japan's Toshi Arai. Predictably, Arai
and the Qatari were the morning's pace setters, with Arai winning the three
specials before the mid-day interval, although Al-Attiyah maintained his
slender P-WRC lead.
PRE EVENT NEWS
- Superspecial on Sunday to be boardcast live on the Internet.
- CYPRUS ROUND OF THE WRC GETS
UNDERWAY ON FRIDAY MORNING
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb bids to seal third WRC title.
Al-Attiyah & Chris Patterson aiming to extend P-WRC lead.
Superspecial to be boardcast live on the Internet on Sunday from 10:30am Irish Time (GMT)
CYPRUS ROUND OF THE WRC GETS
UNDERWAY ON FRIDAY MORNING
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb bids to seal third WRC title.
Al-Attiyah & Chris Patterson aiming to extend P-WRC lead.
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena
start as favourites to win this weekend's Cyprus Rally, round 12 of the
2006 FIA World Rally Championship, which gets underway north of Limassol on
Friday morning.
The double WRC champion is bidding to seal a third world title and his
first for the semi-private Kronos Citroën team. Loeb has won seven of the
11 rounds of the series so far, finished second on four occasions and has
amassed 102 championship points. His nearest rival is the Finn Marcus
Grönholm, winner of the other four rallies this season for the BP-Ford
Team, on 69 points. Victory for Loeb over the twisty gravel stages in the
Troodos mountains over the next three days would leave Grönholm needing to
finish at least fifth overall to keep the two-horse race alive.
The Finn's joker could be Ford's impressive track record on this event -
the Blue Oval won in Cyprus for the first two years that the event was a
round of the WRC and has been competitive on the rougher gravel rallies in
the WRC calendar. But Loeb has won here for the past two seasons and is
chasing a hat-trick of Cyprus victories and a record 28th WRC win.
While the Cyprus Rally could well develop into a two-horse race, despite
the threat of changeable weather conditions, Loeb's team mate Dani Sordo is
sure to feature in the podium places. Ford's Mikko Hirvonen is overdue a
good result, Austria's Manfred Stohl will be hoping to build upon the
second place he achieved in Cyprus last season in the OMV-backed Peugeot,
while Norway's Petter Solberg and Australian Chris Atkinson need to earn
valuable championship points for the Subaru World Rally Team.
Red Bull Skoda will be represented by Finland's Harri Rovanperä and
Austrian Andreas Aigner, Matthew Wilson and Luis Perez Companc drive a pair
of Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focuses and Norway's Henning Solberg is entered
in a second OMV Peugeot.
The Cyprus Rally is also a round of the FIA Production World Rally
Championship (P-WRC) and Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah will be bidding to
move into an unassailable lead in the hard-fought series. The defending FIA
Middle East champion won the category in Argentina and Greece this year and
arrives in Limassol with a 14-point lead over Japan's Fumio Nutahara, who
won the category in Monte Carlo and Japan. Al-Attiyah has opted to miss the
next round of the series in Australia and needs a maximum points' score to
maintain a clear lead.
Japan's Toshi Arai and Argentina's Gabriel Pozzo still have a chance to
secure the title, but they too need top points' scores in Cyprus.
Representing the local contingent will be the multiple Cyprus national
champion Andreas Tsouloftas and Spyros Pavlides, who are FIA guest drivers
representing the host nation.
Cars were flagged away from a ceremonial start in Limassol at 20.30 hrs on
Thursday evening by the island's Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry
Antonis Michaelides, but the competitive action gets underway on Friday
morning. The opening leg offers four gravel stages, repeated twice, while
Saturday's timetable offers a further eight timed sections.
The final leg on Sunday consists of three gravel stages in the Troodos
mountains, an all-new Down Town Special stage on Limassol seafront at 12.35
hrs, and a further two timed specials on Sunday afternoon. The official
podium finish will take place in Limassol from 16.40 hrs.