WRC

February 19, 2007 With Sebastien Loeb’s almost total dominance in recent years, the World Rally Championship (WRC) has taken on a pall of inevitability, but as we all know, nothing lasts forever on the sporting field. Ford has been forging a dynasty of reliability and competitiveness at WRC level for decades, but had not won a manufacturers championship for 26 years until sheer weight of points finishes overcame Loeb and Citroen last year. This year the BP-Ford World Rally Team has started the season so well that it could be poised to challenge for the dirvers title in 2007 too. The team took a decisive lead in the WRC after dominating Rally Norway with the Focus RS World Rally Car to finish first and second yesterday. Mikko Hirvonen (driver first) and Jarmo Lehtinen (navigator second) led from start to finish to claim their second WRC victory, finishing 9.5sec ahead of team-mates and fellow Finns Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen. It was BP-Ford's second win in consecutive weeks after Gronholm triumphed in Sweden seven days ago and powered the reigning manufacturers' world champions into a 16 point lead after three of the 16 rounds. Gronholm moved to the head of the drivers' series, four points clear of Hirvonen. As always, the Scandinavian rounds with their spectacular yumps (high speeds on ice and snow with sudden dropaways lead to 100 mph flying cars) make for another awesome image library. Read More

September 6, 2006 When Sebastien Loeb narrowly held out Marcus Gronholm to win the Rally of Japan last Sunday, he became the most successful rally driver in history. His 27th career victory edged the double World Rally Champion past former Citroen driver Carlos Sainz and into the record books once again. Unbelievably Loeb only made his WRC debut in 2002 and has taken just four seasons to overtake the success of rally legend Sainz. Along the way, it’s been a tour de force, as he now holds the record for the most consecutive victories, and last year performed what many people consider to be his most astounding feat – winning every stage in a World Championship Rally. This year the Frenchman has demonstrated his versatility winning the Race of Champions (December) and finishing in second place in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Read More

April 10, 2006 Citroen’s World Champion, Sebastien Loeb has extended his lead in the 2006 World Rally Championship after another commanding win, notching up his 23rd WRC win at the weekend in the French round, the Rally of Corsica, with Loeb joined on the podium by fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo. What makes the result even more remarkable is the fact that Citroen is dominating the 2006 World Rally Championship with a two year old car, built for the previous rule regime and modified for the ’06 season, while its rivals are running their latest designs. Second in the event and now a clear second in the title chase, BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen claimed their fourth podium finish in five rallies by finishing second on the Rallye de France Tour de Corse. Read More

March 6, 2006 It seemed inevitable that Sebastien Loeb would find his way back to the head of 2006 world rankings following a 2005 season that was the most dominant on record. Following a win in the third round of the WRC in Mexico, Loeb has now regained the series lead and it would be a brave move to bet against him for the title. In the end, the Citroen driver had a thrilling fight to the finish with Subaru’s Petter Solberg to finally take the Rally of Mexico at the weekend (3-5 March 2006). Loeb got off to a steady start on Friday sweeping the roads clean for the benefit of Petter Solberg amongst others, but still hung on grimly to limit the deficit to just a half a minute. The next step was to make up the time lost, reducing the gap to a combative Solberg. It was only on Saturday night, after SS13, that Seb found any sort of breathing space after very tightly fought battle with Subaru driver that turned the event into a two horse race. The final phase of the victory plan, which took place on Sunday, consisted of a precise control of the lead, a painstaking task in which Loeb excels. All victories taste sweet, but for Seb – sheltering under a sombrero at the finish – this one was special. BTW - they obviously love their rallying in Mexico - check out the image library for some scary shots, not to mention the main shot of Seb getting big air just a few feet from the spectators. Read More

March 1, 2006 Suzuki has announced it will enter the World Rally Championship (WRC) from August, 2007 using its all new Sports X-over vehicle SX4 as the basis. The SX4 was also launched at the Geneva Show. Suzuki’s decision to participate in the WRC follows from its very successful involvement with its teams in the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC). Read More

October 24, 2005 That's right - it's not a mistake. Sebastien Loeb won every stage of the Rally of France of the weekend. The 2005 World Rally Championship has already seen Loeb and his Citroen set world records for most wins in one season and most consecutive wins, but Loeb’s latest effort has added a new and quite extraordinary record at the weekend's (21-23 October 2005) Rally of France: the first time one driver has set the fastest time on every single stage in a World Championship Rally! Loeb made no secret of the fact that with his second world title in the bag, he wanted to win his home (French) event for the first time and he did it in a crushing manner. So crushing that it's hard to imagine it ever being repeated. Read More

October 2, 2005 Frenchman Sebastien Loeb and his Citroen Xsara took the FIA World Rally Championship today, finishing second to a resurgent Marcus Gronholm’s Peugeot 307 and extending his points lead to 36 points with three events still to run in the championship series. After leading the rally for all but two stages, Subaru’s Petter Solberg was robbed of victory in the penultimate stage when he hit a rock and broke the Subaru’s steering. Victory therefore landed in the lap of Marcus Gronholm, his second win of the season. Loeb only needed to finish third, regardless of rivals’ positions around him, and drove the rally required to secure his second title. Subaru’s Chris Atkinson drove to third, his best-ever result, while Francois Duval claimed fourth ahead of Mitsubishi driver Harri Rovanpera. Ford maintained its record of scoring on each round; Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta finishing sixth and seventh respectively to claim Ford’s 57th consecutive points-scoring finish. Daniel Carlsson, stepping in for Markko Martin, rounded off the top eight. Read More

September 18, 2005 Wales Rally GB came to a tragic end this morning following a fatal accident in which Marco Martin's co-driver Michael Park was killed. The stage was immediately stopped and the remaining two scheduled stages abandoned. World Championship leader Sebastien Loeb was leading the rally at the time and the win would have given him the 2005 title. Rather than win the title in such tragic circumstances, Loeb purposefully took a time penalty. Park was one of the most likeable people in a friendly paddock and will be sadly missed. He leaves a wife, Marie, and two children, William and Victoria. It is a sad day for WRC and Motorsport. Read More

August 29, 2005 Citroen notched up its first one-two of the season yesterday with Sebastien Loeb claiming his eighth victory of the season and extending his lead at the head of the Drivers’ Championship to 32 points with five events remaining. It is also the Frenchman’s fourth consecutive win in Germany. Team-mate Francois Duval repaid the team’s faith by claiming second, 37.4 seconds adrift of the reigning World Champion. Marcus Gronholm, winner of his home event in Finland, finished on the podium in third to retain second in the series. Read More