07/10/2007
Loeb-Sordo, Citroën's one-two in a RallyRACC that relunches the title fight for the WRC
 | | Citroën's one-two in the 43 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA |
Today, the 43 movistar RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, the twelfth World Championship round WRC, has finished today in Salou, and the victory has been for Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC). This is the third consecutive time of the race that the French couple holds their victory, this time near Salou village and PortAventura theme park.
Loeb's victory and his rival, the Finn Marcus Grönholm (Ford), third, are relunching the title fight for the World Championship, after the 6 points of difference between both drivers. Next week, in Corsica, the Championship will go on with the same intensity as it had in Spain. The RallyRACC of the definitive leg has been a period of transition, seen the gap times between the three leaders and maintaining the candidates battling for the World Championship title next four races.
Loeb and Grönholm drew in Riudecanyes, and Sordo clinched his fourth best time of the race in Colldejou. In the second run of the stages, Grönholm marked the two last scratches of the rally. Dani Sordo has ran a wonderful race: he led two stages of the first leg and marked 4 scratches, as well as he performed perfect, and finished ahead Grönholm.
In Junior category, the victory has been for the Swedish Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki), followed by Czech Martin Prokop (Citroën) and the Estonian Urmo Aava (Suzuki). With this result, Andersson and Aava will run the last race in Corsica drawn in points. The Spanish Yeray Lemes (Citroën) was retired. Obvious victory for the N group, the Austrian Andreas Aigner (Mitsubishi) has won the victory of the N group together with the Spanish Joan Font (Mitsubishi) who has been sixth.
Aman Barfull, director of the RallyRACC race said "we are very happy because the preparation for the rally has worked perfectly. We can say that this is the best RallyRACC of these two last years thanks to all people who have been working for the race. Drivers, teams and FIA's members agree with this consideration which means a great support for RACC and people who cooperate in the race, and for all our sponsors and collaborators". 68 vehicles of the 81, that started the race on Friday, have concluded the race today.
Final standings of the 43 movistar RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (F-MC/Citroën C4 WRC) -3h 22'50.5
2. Daniel Sordo/Marc Martí (E/Citroën C4 WRC) + 13"8
3. Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2007) +39"8
4. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2007) + 1'25"8
5. François Duval/Patrick Pivato (B/Citroën Xsara WRC) + 2'28"7
6. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (N-GB/Subaru Impreza WRC 2007) + 2'54"1
7. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2006) + 3'38"2
8. Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot (AUS-B/Subaru Impreza WRC2007) + 4'22"4
9. Xevi Pons/Xavier Amigo (E/Subaru Impreza WRC2007) +5'04"1
10. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (N/Ford Focus RS WRC 2006)+ 10'32"2
Etc.
Provisional standings of FIA drivers World Championship WRC
1. Marcus Grönholm (Finland) BP-Ford WRT - 96 points
2. Sébastien Loeb (French) Total Citroën WRT - 90 points
3. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) BP-Ford WRT - 74 points
4. Daniel Sordo (Spain) Total Citroën WRT - 39 points
5. Petter Solberg (Sweden) Subaru WRT - 34 points
6. Henning Solberg (Norway) Stobart VK M-Sport - 28 points
7. Chris Atkinson (Australia) Subaru WRT - 26 points
8. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Stobart VK M-Sport - 19 points
9. François Duval (Belgium) OMV Kronos Total WRT - 12 points
10. Toni Gardemeister (Finland) - 10 points
Provisional standings of FIA manufactorers World Championship WRC
1. BP Ford World Rally Team (6 victoies, 5 seconds, 6 thirds) - 170 points
2. Citroën Total WRT (6 victories, 5 seconds, 3 thirds) - 131 points
3. Subaru World Rally Team (0 victories, 1 seconds, 1 thirds) - 64 points
4. Stobart VK M-Sport (0 victories, 0 seconds, 1 thirds) - 57 points
5. OMV Kronos Citroën WRT (0 victories, 1 seconds, 0 thirds) - 39 points
6. Munchi's Ford World Rally Team (0 podiums) - 6 points
Provisional standings of the FIA Junior Rally Championship
1. Urmo Aava (Estonia) & Per-Gunnar Anderson (Sweden) - 38 points
3. Martin Prokop (The Czech Republic) - 24 points
4. Jaan Mölder (Estonia) - 20 points
5. Patrick Sandell (Sweden) - 19 points
Next roung for both championships:
Rallye de France-Tour de Corse 2007, from 12th till 14th October
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