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STOP PRESS: Loeb wins in Ireland |
Citroen team leader, Sebastien Loeb came through to take the win on the Rally Ireland on Sunday.
Loeb took the lead on the 'first' proper stage and while he was briefly overhauled by his team-mate, Daniel Sordo in SS4, the Frenchman re-took top spot on SS5 and after that was never really troubled.
The Frenchman eventually finished the event, just under a minute up on Sordo, who was 'best of the rest' in the sister C4 WRC.
Seb's maximum score and Marcus Gronholm's failure to finish, after crashing out on day 1, means the triple world champion re-takes the lead in the drivers' championship, now 6 points up on his arch rival, with just one event, the Wales Rally GB to go.
Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala meanwhile took the final place on the rostrum, albeit more than 1.5 minutes off the lead.
Mikko Hirvonen was next up in fourth, after opting for a 'safety-first' approach in order to ensure he notched up at least three points to secure the manufacturers' championship for BP Ford. In the end he easily did enough, taking 5 points for P4, something that guarantees the M-Sport-run outfit its second consecutive manufacturers' crown.
Further down the order, Subaru's Petter Solberg was fifth, followed by Guy Wilks in his privately entered Impreza.
Stobart Ford 'third' driver, Matthew Wilson and Gareth MacHale rounded out the top eight.
Full report and result to follow soon...
