Loeb wins in Catalunya as the C4 WRC enters rallying history

Sebastien Loeb dominated action from start to finish at the Rally of Catalunya, in Spain, to clinch his seventh win of the season. With his victory Loeb also granted a spot in rallying history to the C4 WRC. In Spain Petter Solberg was runner-up, with Citroën’s Dani Sordo closing the podium.

On the opening day Loeb was expected to lose time on the revamped mixed-surface event as he would be running first on the road. But the predictions weren’t confirmed as, helped by slightly damp conditions, Loeb managed to brake into the lead right from the start. At the time Sebastien Ogier from Citroën Junior was keeping the already crowned 2010 WRC champion under pressure.

But on Saturday Ogier’s challenge would come to an end as he he misheard a pace note and slid into a barrier. The French dropped from second to 17th place.

Loeb then had a free road to cruise to another win, continuing his impressive record of seven consecutive seasons without being beaten on asphalt. A record that also puts the C4 WRC on the record books and in the history of rallying. Making his exit of WRC action at the end of the season the C4, the rally car will leave the sport without being beaten on asphalt since its debut in 2007.

"A very good result in Spain again, there was nothing to play for in the championship here so we could drive without any added pressure and I started to push very hard from the opening day," said Loeb, who now has six wins in Spain. "Once we were leading, we could take the two days on asphalt easier."

After struggling on Friday, Dani Sordo started day two in sixth position and a minute off the lead. But when the race came back to the asphalt he won a series of stages which put him in third, close to the Solberg’s Citroën. The Norwegian was still in control and managed to secure his second place with an advantage of 5.8 seconds.

Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth and fifth. Latvala had run second early on but struggled during the asphalt legs. As for his team-mate, Hirvonen lost several minutes with a turbo problem on Saturday.