Written by:
Kevin Krefting
08/18/2007
Berlin, Germany
Loeb played king of the castle once again in Germany. (LAT photo)
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Sebastien Loeb has continued his remarkable unbeaten record on the Rally Germany by taking his sixth consecutive win at the event. In doing so, he closed the gap to World Rally Championship title rival Marcus Gronholm significantly after the Ford driver went off the road in the final stage while trying to fend off the charging Francois Duval.
Duval won every stage on leg three as he tried to close in on second-placed Gronholm, and the gap was down to just five seconds when they began SS19.
Gronholm went off and damaged the rear of his Ford Focus early in the stage, losing 80 seconds as he limped to the finish. He fell to fourth place behind Duval and his Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen, but still has to nurse the damaged car through the final road section to the official finish before he can be classified.
Loeb's final winning margin was 20.3 seconds over Duval. The reigning World Rally Champion has never been beaten in Germany since the rally joined the calendar in 2002, and he dominated most of the weekend this year.
Duval returning in an OMV Kronos Citroen briefly edged ahead on Friday afternoon when Loeb misjudged the weather and made a poor tire choice, but the works driver was soon back in control and was able to cruise through the final morning.
At the finish he expressed his gratitude to Duval for pressuring Gronholm into his error.
"I must say thank you to Francois Duval, because he was pushing incredibly hard," Loeb said. "We just had to drive smoothly and take no risks today."
Duval was equally thrilled with his second place. "I pushed a lot today," he said. "I'm very happy after eight months (away), it's incredible."
Gronholm's teammate Mikko Hirvonen came home third, with Gronholm seemingly set for fourth unless his damaged suspension prevents him from reaching the service area.
Privateer Skoda driver Jan Kopecky took a superb fifth place after his rally-long rival Toni Gardemeister lost time with a puncture this morning and fell to seventh.
Gardemeister's problems helped Petter Solberg up to sixth in the factory Subaru, and after a troubled weekend he was significantly happier with the Impreza on the final leg.
"It's looking good," Solberg said. "We just need to get the package for the whole weekend now."
With Solberg's teammates Xevi Pons and Chris Atkinson both retiring today, after an engine failure and a crash respectively, Jari-Matti Latvala claimed the final point in the Stobart Ford.
