“It
was a really good rally for us coming from three bad rallies. We did
the perfect race I would say with no mistakes. Mikko has taken a lot
of points so we stay very close in the championship but the point for
the Power Stage could be very important.” said Loeb.
Loeb went into the final day with a
lead of 27.4 secs over Jari-Matti Latvala, who was enjoying his best
ever rally on tarmac. Returning to service in Salou, Loeb had
extended his lead to 31 secs after going fastest on SS15. Loeb's
team-mate Sebastian Ogier went fastest on SS16, slicing 23.1 secs out
of Dani Sordo, whom he was desperately trying to catch. Latvala went
fastest over SS17, his sixth stage win of the rally, to cut the
deficit to Loeb to 24 secs. Dutifully, Latvala dropped over 2 mins
and drove at a reduced pace through SS18, the Power Stage, to ensure
team-mate Mikko Hirvonen got the necessary points to be in with a
shout of the title in Wales.
Dani Sordo took fourth after coming
under severe pressure from Ogier, after Sordo suffered a puncture and
steering problems on SS14, in the closing stages of the rally.
However, in a cruel twist of fate, Ogier's engine expired on SS17,
dropping him from the rally and out of the fight for the World Title.
Fifth was Kris Meeke, taking his first finish of the year.
Meeke also took his first WRC stage win
of his career, winning the Power Stage by 0.2 secs over team-mate
Sordo after both MINI men made perfect tyre choices leaving service,
sporting two soft tyres and two hard tyres, and carrying two soft
tyres as spares. It proved a good choice as the stage proved damp,
and the two MINI's flew. Sebastian Loeb took the final Power Stage
point with third, nearly 5 secs behind Meeke.
Mads Ostberg's brake gremlins returned
to haunt him today, with his brakes overheating today. He took 6th
after Ogier retired, while Evgeny Novikov overhauled Henning Solberg
for 7th, Solberg still struggling with a nasty head cold.
Dennis Kuipers added two more points to his 2011 tally, taking 9th
while Juho Hanninen took the final point for 10th,
rounding out a great rally for the Finn.
Ken Block and Armindo Araujo both crash
out on today's first stage, and Matthew Wilson did the same thing
four stages later on SS17.
Juho Hanninen took S-WRC class spoils
and the S-WRC title, to follow up his 2010 IRC title, by 14.9 secs
over Nasser Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah lost his brakes, and his chances
of the rally win, on SS13, allowing Hanninen to pass him for the
lead. Martin Prokop took third, with Craig Breen fourth. Hanninen's
team-mate Hermann Gassner Jr. took fifth and Ott Tanak took sixth,
albeit 30mins off the lead. Albert Llovera took the 'Abu Dhabi Spirit
of the Rally' award.
“At
one stage we were really trying and when Tanak made a mistake there
was almost 400 stage kilometres to the finish. We were just waiting
and avoiding the mistakes so it was not so easy. On gravel it was
difficult on Friday but then we went to Tarmac on Saturday morning I
formed some sort of rhythm. With that rhythm I was able to fight with
Nasser. Today he had a few problems with the brakes so from that
moment we got the lead and we were able to keep it.”
said Hanninen, 2011 S-WRC Champion.
A
tense final day saw Patrik Flodin take his first P-WRC victory of
2011, beating Michal Kosciuszko by a slim margin of 2 secs. Swede
Flodin conceded he thought his chances of victory were all but gone
after a SS17 puncture, but with Kosciuszko only able to take 0.3 secs
out of him on the Power Stage, he secured the win. Benito Guerra took
his first podium finish in the P-WRC in third.
“We
were really struggling yesterday with the driving on Tarmac. Last
night we reset everything and tried to do our best today and the
driving was working better. We tried to go a bit smoother, braking
earlier and really focus on the exit of the corner. I saw in the fast
sections we were faster than him and we could see that on the split
times. Without the puncture it could have been quite safe. We did
just enough.” said a relieved Flodin.
Only
8 points separate Loeb and Hirvonen going into the final round of the
2011 WRC season, Wales Rally GB in three weeks time. With Sebastian
Ogier out of the title fight after his engine failure, it looks like
a replay of the 2009 title fight, when Loeb took his sixth world
crown after Hirvonen suffered some extreme bad luck.
On
a somewhat sad note, M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson paid tribute to
rising MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli, who was killed in a tragic
accident on Lap 2 of this morning's Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix.
Simoncelli, 24, tested a Ford Fiesta RS WRC alongside Mikko Hirvonen
in Cumbria a number of weeks ago. Simoncelli said he “loves rally
and rally cars”, and showed what might have been, throwing the
Fiesta around with the same flair that he showed in MotoGP.
Wilson
said: "Today has obviously been overshadowed by the tragic death
of Marco Simoncelli in the MotoGP race in Malaysia. Marco visited
M-Sport just a few weeks ago to test a Fiesta RS WRC. His enthusiasm
and delight at being in the car were clear for all to see and we are
all extremely saddened at the news. Our sincere condolences go out to
his family, friends and colleagues."
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