Loeb wins Turkish Rally on three wheels
(APW_ENG_20040627.0149)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France finished on three tyres and still won the Turkish Rally on Sunday to extend his lead in the world championship.
2) Loeb's right-rear wheel-bearing in his Citroen seized on the 17th and final stage and a small wheel fire broke out. He removed the tyre and limped to the finish on three wheels to complete his fourth victory from seven races.
3) "It has been a tough rally, and although we've now got a good lead in the drivers' championship, we can't relax," Loeb said. "There's a long way to go before the end of the season."
4) Loeb's overnight lead was boosted on Sunday by the addition of 10 seconds for which he was incorrectly penalized the day before for allegedly jump starting a stage.
5) He maintained the time margin to win by 26.2 seconds over Marcus Gronholm of Finland. Petter Solberg of Norway was another 10 seconds back.
6) Loeb increased his overall lead to 53 points, nine ahead of world champion Solberg. Markko Martin of Estonia was third on 34 with nine races to go.
7) Solberg won the last three stages, but water damage to his Subaru engine on Friday's first day cost him a minute he couldn't quite make up.
8) Gronholm threatened to overtake Loeb after winning Sunday's first stage, but in a re-run in the penultimate stage he finished the same course only sixth in his Peugeot.
9) Carlos Sainz, Loeb's Citroen teammate, was fourth, Francois Duval of Belgium fifth, and Mikko Hirvonen of Finland sixth.


Frenchman Sebastien Loeb enters Argentine rally as points leader but Norwegian rival Solberg wins preliminary
(APW_ENG_20040716.0297)
1) French driver Sebastien Loeb headed into Friday's start of the Rally of Argentina with a field-leading 53 points, a day after Norway's rival Petter Soblerg won the preliminaries.
2) Solberg drove his Subaru Impreza to first place in Thursday evening's two test runs as teams geared up for the three-day event in the rugged hill country of central Argentina.
3) Seventy-four drivers were competing here in the three-day rally that will traverse some 930 miles (1,450 kilometers) of wild, rocky terrain as part of the eighth stop of auto's World Rally Championship.
4) The race was starting later Friday with a 102-mile (160-kilometer) first stage between La Cumbre, Cordoba, and neighboring Casa Grande.
5) Winner of the last rally in Turkey, Loeb entered the eighth stop on this year's circuit as the points leader at the wheel of his Citroen Xsara. He is followed by Solberg with 44 points, Ford's Markko Martin of Estonia with 34. Defending Argentine rally champion Marcus Gronholm of Finland follows with 32 points.
6) Based around Cordoba in central Argentina, the rally here runs the highest elevations of the 16-country championship and will be conducted in 20 stages through dry dusty foothills and river crossings in foothills approaching the Andes mountain chain.
7) In two identical preliminaries late Thursday, two cars raced simultaneously over a 3-kilometer distance as Solbergo clocked the best time of 4 minutes, 20.5 seconds.
8) Martin of Estonia was runnerup Thursday in 4 minutes 20.7 secondss while Gronholm in a Peugeot clocked 4 minutes 20.8 seconds.
9) The World Rally Champoinship events take place on four continents between January and November of every year. Starting with the hill circuit around Monaco, the rally features stops in countries including New Zealand, Turkey and a first-time race in Mexico this year.
10) After Argentina, the rally moves on to Finland Aug. 6-8.


Loeb leads Rally New Zealand after first day's eight stages
(APW_ENG_20050408.0264)
1) World champion Sebastian Loeb of France, driving a Citroen, led the Rally of New Zealand by 23.1 seconds after eight stages on the first day Friday.
2) Loeb took the lead for the first time on special stage four and progressively took charge of the rally after the morning service halt which allowed him to make an astute tire change.
3) Petter Solberg of Norway, in a Subaru, set the early pace in the cool conditions of the morning, although in starting at the head of the field he had to sweep the gravel roads for following drivers.
4) Loeb's fortunate tire choice in the warmer conditions of the afternoon allowed him to gradually build his lead over his closest rivals. He finished the eight stages in a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 1.1 seconds.
5) He ended the day ahead of Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm, who was a further 4.6 seconds ahead of Francois Duval in the second Citroen. Solberg was placed fourth five seconds behind Duval and 31.7 seconds off the lead.
6) "Today has actually been better than I thought it would be, particularly this afternoon when I used the hard tires," Loeb said. "I'm not going to slacken off, though, because Marcus is not the kind of person who gives up easily."
7) Duval was happy with his third placing after a difficult start to the year in which he failed to take a point from the first three rounds of the world championship.
8) "I put a lot of today's pace down to road position," Duval said. "I'm feeling comfortable with the car but I'm not going to push. I'm happy with a points finish."
9) Loeb was almost upstaged Friday by young Australian Chris Atkinson, driving a Subaru, who scored his first WRC stage win on special stage three and followed up with a second win on stage eight.
10) Atkinson was fifth overall at the end of the day, 23.6 seconds behind his teammate Solberg and 54.3 seconds behind leading Loeb.
11) Gronholm said poor tire choice had cost him time throughout the day.
12) "In the morning I chose tires which were too hard and in the afternoon I overcompensated and went too soft," he said.
13) The three-day rally ending Sunday is the fourth round of the 16-race world championship and comprises 20 stages over 1,128 kilometers (701 miles).


Defending World Rally champ Sebastien Loeb notches sixth straight victory, in Argentina
(APW_ENG_20050717.0574)
1) Defending World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb drove his Citroen to a record sixth straight victory Sunday, beating Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm to win the Argentina Rally.
2) France's Loeb, who has won seven of the tour's nine races this year, led from Friday's start on the grueling Cordoba hill circuit of central Argentina. Finland's Gronholm kept within 30 seconds over the three days but was unable to catch Loeb.
3) Loeb's Citroen Xsara won in an overall time of 3 hours, 55 minutes, 36.4 seconds, while Gronholm's Peugeot Total was 26.1 seconds back, and Norway's Petter Solberg, in a Subaru Impreza, was 55.3 seconds behind.
4) Ford's Toni Gardemeister of Finland finished fourth _ 2:38 seconds back _ and compatriot Harri Rovanpera's Mitsubishi Lancer was fifth _ 2:43.6 seconds behind.
5) All times are preliminary.
6) In overall standings, Loeb now has 75 points, Solberg is on 48 and Gronholm has 45.
7) Tens of thousands of fans watched the third day of racing as Loeb won the day's opening stage on roads wet from overnight rain and sleet.
8) Loeb has won the last five world championship events, including Greece three weeks ago. The 25th annual Argentina Rally covered 341 kilometers (212 miles) in and around Villa Carlos Paz, some 475 miles (650 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.
9) Loeb sealed victory by winning six of the opening 10 stages Friday to build up an early, commanding 31-second lead.
10) Gronholm and Solberg battled all day Saturday for second position until Solberg damaged his rear suspension and brakes after careering off the track to finish third.
11) In the team championship, Citroen has seven victories for the year, followed by Subaru with two triumphs.


Loeb extends overall lead at Tour of Corsica rally
(APW_ENG_20060408.0628)
1) Two-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb extended his overall lead at the Tour of Corsica rally Saturday.
2) After winning three of four specials Friday, overall world championship leader Loeb won two more Saturday. With a total time of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 31.4 seconds, Citroen's Loeb now heads Ford driver Gronholm by 39.7 seconds and Dani Sordo of Spain by 1:38.4.
3) "It was a very good day for me," Loeb said. "I made the right choice of tires ... changing to harder ones."
4) Frenchman Loeb has two race wins so far this season and 36 points in the overall standings, nine more than Marcus Gronholm of Finland.
5) "There was nothing you could do against Loeb today," Gronholm said. "It was not a good day."
6) Sordo, who suffered mechanical problems with his Citroen Friday, won the final special of the day and is third overall, with Mikko Hirvonen taking the other special to place fourth, 1:44.1 behind Loeb.
7) "I really attacked strongly and it was a good fight against Hirvonen," said Sordo, who is just over five seconds ahead of Hirvonen.


Loeb leads Rally Argentina, closest rival Gronholm drops out
(APW_ENG_20060429.0003)
1) Defending champion Sebastien Loeb led the Rally Argentina by nearly 20 seconds after the second day Friday, while closest rival Marcus Gronholm suffered mechanical problems.
2) Loeb, the two-time world champion from France, finished the first 10 of 22 special stages with a 19.8-second advantage over Norway's Petter Solberg in a Subaru.
3) Loeb's lead didn't come easy in Friday's combined 160 kilometers (100 miles) over mostly mountain and loose rocky terrain, starting in steady rain.
4) On the day's opening stage _ the third of the race _ his Citroen Sara skidded and bottomed out but he managed to recover to finish the stage 23 seconds behind stage winner Solberg.
5) Loeb then won four of the of the remaining seven legs for an overall time of 1 hour. 53 minutes,58.7 seconds.
6) After Solberg, Italy's Giovanni Galli was third overall in a Peugeot, followed by Manfred Stohl of Austria, also in a Peugeot.
7) Gronholm, the 2003 race winner, hit mechanical trouble in the eighth stage and fell well back.
8) His fellow Finn, Mikko Hirvonen, also struggled with mechanical problems in the ninth stage.
9) Loeb leads the series with 46 points after five rallies, with Gronholm on 35.
10) Drivers opened the race on a stadium track in Cordoba, 475 miles (650 kilometers) northwest of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
11) The rally concludes on Sunday.


Gronholm leads Loeb after first-day stages
(APW_ENG_20060519.0896)
1) Marcus Gronholm drove his Ford Focus to victory in four of six stages Friday to lead the Rally of Italy after the first day of racing.
2) The Finnish driver, second in the Championship standings, led two-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb by 35.4 seconds.
3) Loeb took the fourth and fifth stages in his Citroen Xsara, but was delayed by front tire problems in the final sixth leg.
4) Mikko Hirvonen, in a Ford, was third, 1:04.2 back. Henning Solberg, in a Peugeot, was next, 1:44.5 back.
5) Loeb is seeking his 24th career win in the seventh championship round on dusty and gravel roads in the Sardinian island.


Gronholm leads Acropolis Rally after 7 stages
(APW_ENG_20060602.0890)
1) Marcus Gronholm of Finland took the lead of the 53rd Acropolis Rally after winning all six stages on Friday.
2) The Ford driver bounced back after Citroen's Sebastian Loeb had won Thursday's opening super special stage around the Olympic Stadium _ but Gronholm led by 26.3 seconds after the seventh stage.
3) "That's not a bad performance," Gronholm said. "The only problem was the stones that caused vibrations to the power steering. Otherwise, we had no problem. The car is perfect.
4) "I have to concentrate on keeping this position until Sunday."
5) Subaru's Petter Solberg of Norway was second, 9.2 seconds ahead of third-place Loeb, who is vying for a sixth straight win on the World Rally Championship circuit.
6) "I can't do anything else," Loeb said. "I am pushing hard and I think that I'm driving fast. Entering the stages first is not helpful."
7) Loeb is 40.4 seconds ahead of Ford No. 2 Mikko Hirvonen, who is fourth. Francois Duval's Skoda is fifth, 13.5 behind Hirvonen.
8) The Acropolis Rally ends Sunday.


Sebastien Loeb wins Finnish Rally prologue
(APW_ENG_20060817.0936)
1) Sebastien Loeb took an early lead in the Finnish Rally, winning the prologue Thursday.
2) Loeb, the defending world champion and current overall leader, drove the 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) track built on a trotting course in 1 minute, 21.4 seconds. Petter Solberg of Norway was second, 0.2 seconds slower.
3) Marcus Gronholm of Finland was tied for fourth behind teammate Mikko Hirvonen.
4) The Finnish rally is one of the few which Loeb has not won during his short but successful career at the top as a Citroen driver.
5) Finishing second last year behind Gronholm, Loeb has said Finland is the one rally he really wants to win.
6) The 32-year-old Frenchman leads the standings 33 points ahead of Gronholm.


Loeb wins Cyprus Rally
(APW_ENG_20060924.0648)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France won the Cyprus Rally on Sunday, earning a record 28th win in the World Rally Championship.
2) Loeb, who has now won eight of the 12 rounds in the series, maintained the lead throughout Sunday's special stages to prevail by 21.2 seconds.
3) "It's my third win in a row in Cyprus. It doesn't get much better," Loeb told Eurosport's Web site.
4) The Frenchman, who started the third leg 21.8 seconds ahead of Marcus Gronholm of Finland, took the first stage of the day and at the same time extended his lead.
5) But the Finn dispelled any suggestions that he had given up, winning the rest of the day's stages.
6) "I was trying to push a little bit ... hoping for something," Gronholm said. "I was still driving. Even the last stage I was driving."
7) Loeb is now a step closer to his third successive world title with four rounds remaining in the championship.
8) "It was another difficult challenge here in Cyprus and Marcus pushed me very hard for two days," Loeb said. "Now we can go to Turkey and confirm the championship."
9) The Citroen driver came into the race leading the drivers' standings with 102 points -- 33 more than Gronholm.
10) Mikko Hirvonen, Gronholm's Ford teammate, finished third.
11) Citroen led Ford 132-121 in the manufacturers' standings before Sunday.
12) Safety concerns led the FIA to cancel a 3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile) special stage running through the narrow roads of the old town of Limassol. Drivers still completed the course but not at racing speeds.
13) However, Dani Sordo drove into a low concrete wall after he failed to negotiate a left-hand corner. The car was towed out of the stage.
14) Stewards were forced to stop the next stage -- with only two cars having gone through -- due to a 15-minute delay created by Sordo's accident.
15) The WRC next moves to Turkey Oct. 13-15.


Gronholm wins opening stage of Wales Rally
(APW_ENG_20061201.0912)
1) Marcus Gronholm won the opening stage of the Wales Rally on Friday, the final leg of the World Rally Championship.
2) The Finnish driver won the 17-kilometer (11-mile) stage around Port Talbot in 9 minutes, 8 seconds, ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Manfred Stohl.
3) Five more stages were scheduled for Friday, with seven stages Saturday and four Sunday.
4) Frenchman Sebastian Loeb has already won the season title and Ford has clinched the manufacturers' championship. Norway's Petter Solberg is bidding for his fifth consecutive win in the Wales rally.
5) Loeb hasn't placed in the top 10 in his last three rallies, but leads with 112 points after 15 events and has a 21-point lead over Gronholm, who won the Rally of New Zealand on Nov. 19.
6) Loeb also won the 2004 and 2005 WRC titles.
7) Seven-time world motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi of Italy finished 10th in New Zealand in only his second WRC event. He's not entered in the Wales event.


Loeb wins season-opening Monte Carlo Rally
(APW_ENG_20070121.0490)
1) Three-time defending world rally champion Sebastien Loeb won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally on Sunday.
2) Bidding for a fourth straight overall title, the Frenchman won at Monte Carlo for the fourth time in his career, beating Citroen teammate Daniel Sordo who was second. Ford's Marcus Gronholm was third.
3) "I like to start the season like this with 10 points," Loeb said. "The car is really fast, my arm is much better. It was a good start to the season. Hopefully we'll be able to continue."
4) Loeb, 32, won last year's title despite missing the final four races after breaking his arm in a cycling accident. He is looking to equal the record set by Finland's Tommi Makinen, who won four straight overall titles from 1996-1999.
5) Loeb, driving for the first time in a C4 model, won six stages over the four days racing, giving him a total time of three hours, 10 minutes, 27.4 seconds.
6) Sordo won three races in his Xsara to give Citroen nine of the 15 stages. The Spaniard was 38.2 seconds behind Loeb overall. Gronholm was one minute, 22.8 seconds adrift and without a stage win.
7) "I have yet to recover all my strength and I still have difficulty making certain movements," Loeb said on the world rally Web site. "I'm still a little stiff."
8) Loeb had little to do but drive safely in the final 2.8-kilometer (1.74-mile) drive around the harbor of Monaco, where he finished fifth fastest.
9) Chris Atkinson of Australia won the 15th and final stage in 1 minute, 49.9 seconds. Gronholm of Finland was second in 1:50.4, and Mikko Hirvonen of Finland third in 1:50.9.
10) Atkinson, who was fourth overall, was delighted to break Citroen's dominance, even though Loeb -- who timed 1:51 -- had no need to try and win on the final day.
11) "We tried our hearts out, we really focused," Atkinson said. "To come out on top is really awesome. The guys have done an amazing job. I can't wait for the rest of the year now."
12) Most of the Monte Carlo rally was moved three hours away to Valence, after road closures along the usual course made access too difficult for competitors.


Hirvonen wins Rally Norway
(APW_ENG_20070218.0436)
1) Mikko Hirvonen led from start to finish to win the inaugural Norwegian world championship rally on Sunday.
2) The Finn, who won Friday's opening stage and was unchallenged the rest of the way, had a total time of 3 hours, 28 minutes, 17.0 seconds after 18 special stages.
3) It was the second win of Hirvonen's career. His first came in Australia last year.
4) "This was a much bigger win for me than Australia," Hirvonen said. "Australia was a little bit easy. For me this was the perfect weekend. I hope the rally stays in the WRC because I won it."
5) Marcus Gronholm of Finland was 9.5 seconds behind in second place and Norway's Henning Solberg made it a podium sweep for Ford Focus in third place, 3:44.6 back.
6) "It's good to take second place, especially as Seb (Loeb) will get no championship points, but it would be nicer to win," Gronholm said.
7) Gronholm, who was third in the season-opener in Monte Carlo last month and then won the Swedish Rally last week, overtook Sebastien Loeb for the overall lead.
8) After three events, Gronholm has 24 points. Loeb, who finished out of the points in 14th place, dropped to third place overall with 18 points. Hirvonen moved to second with 20.
9) Loeb, the three-time defending world champion, went into a snow bank during Saturday's 12th stage near Lillehammer's Olympic ski jumping stadium. The mishap cost the French Citroen driver more than eight minutes.
10) "I made some mistakes yesterday so we just drove for one manufacturer point (today) and we have done that," Loeb said. "This has not been a good weekend for Citroen."
11) Former world champion Petter Solberg of Norway finished fourth in a Subaru, 4:01.1 behind.
12) The next world championship event is March 9-11 in Mexico.


Hirvonen wins opening super special test in Argentine Rally debut
(APW_ENG_20070504.0202)
1) Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen drove his Ford to first place in a 2.4-kilometer super special test, finishing in 2 minutes, 8.3 seconds on Thursday's opening day of the Argentine Rally.
2) On a course set up at River Plate's famed Monumental soccer stadium, compatriot Marcus Gronholm, also driving a Ford, finished second 0.6 seconds behind, and Spaniard Dani Sordo was just 0.8 seconds back.
3) In fourth, Norway's Petter Solberg finished 1.5 seconds behind, tied with France's Sebastien Loeb.
4) Loeb, the three-time world rally champion, won the Portuguese Rally last Sunday, beating Gronholm by 37.1 seconds for a 38-point total, one point ahead of his rival.
5) The Argentine Republic Rally is the sixth event of the year and continues on Friday on the traditional hill circuits of Cordoba in central Argentina before concluding Sunday.
6) In a novel step, the opening special stage was held in Buenos Aires instead of Cordoba, where rugged outdoor hill circuits of rough dirt roads, steep ascents and washouts await the drivers.
7) Following Thursday's special test, the cars were loaded on trucks to be taken overnight 650 kilometers to the central province for Friday's start. The racers were traveling ahead on chartered jets.


Hirvonen leads rain-interrupted Argentine Rally
(APW_ENG_20070505.0060)
1) Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen won the only stage held on Friday after heavy rains forced the cancellation of all hill stages on Friday's second day of the Argentine Rally.
2) All other second-day stages were scrapped after 16 drivers who competed a day earlier in the opening special stage in a Buenos Aires soccer stadium were delayed for hours in a chartered jet because of bad weather in Cordoba, about 650 kilometers (475 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.
3) Hirvonen, who also won Thursday's special stage at Monumental Stadium, won Friday's leg at Cordoba Stadium in 2 minutes, 31.9 seconds for an overall leading time of 4:40.
4) Jari-Matti Latvala, a fellow Finn also driving a Ford, was second in 2:32.9 on Friday followed by three-time world champion Sebastien Loeb of France in 2:33.1.
5) Australia's Chris Atkinson was fourth, Spain's Daniel Sordo fifth, and Norway's Petter Solberg sixth.
6) Overall, Sordo remained 2.4 seconds off the pace, and Loeb 2.9 seconds. Marcus Gronholm of Finland was three seconds behind, and Solbergfifth at 3.3 seconds back.
7) Two chartered jets flying drivers reached Cordoba on Thursday night. But a third plane carrying Loeb and others couldn't land in stormy weather in Cordoba and had to return to Buenos Aires to await better weather later Friday, officials said. By the time they arrived, it was too late for the stages on the central hill circuits of Cordoba.


Loeb wins third straight Argentine Rally, takes lead atop WRC standings
(APW_ENG_20070506.0867)
1) Frenchman Sebastien Loeb drove his Citroen to victory in the rain-shortened Argentine Rally on Sunday, beating Finnish rival Marcus Gronholm by 36.7 seconds to take the lead atop the World Rally Championship standings.
2) Loeb's Ford finished in 2 hours and 52 minutes, winning 10 of the 23 special stages Saturday and Sunday over a course shortened by rain that had made driving muddy and difficult both days.
3) It was the three-time world champion's third straight victory in Argentina and gave him 48 points, moving him three ahead of Gronholm after six events of the 16-race series.
4) Ford-driving Finns swept the next three places with Mikko Hirvonen finishing 2:15.2 behind Loeb in third place, 1:28 ahead of compatriot Jari Latvala.
5) Loeb won seven of nine stages Saturday and three more Sunday, a day of rain and muddy racing after thunderstorms cut short many stages on this year's rally in Cordoba, about 650 kilometers (475 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.
6) Henning Solberg of Norway drove his Ford to fifth, 4:10 behind Loeb. His brother, Petter Solberg, abandoned the race after engine troubles Saturday.
7) Hirvonen's finish left him third in the season standings with 36 points, 14 ahead of Spaniard Daniel Sordo.
8) The annual rally opened Thursday with a singular special stage at a Buenos Aires soccer stadium. But much of Friday's schedule was scrapped after thunderstorms prevented 16 of the drivers from reaching Cordoba in time for the start.
9) The death of a spectator also marred racing Saturday.
10) A 49-year-old woman was killed near Cosquin on a connecting stretch between races. Two other people standing on the roadside also were injured -- although their injuries were not life threatening -- in the accident involving Subaru driver Gonzalo Alenaz of Argentina, police and hospital officials said.


Loeb leads after first leg at Rally of Italy
(APW_ENG_20070518.1271)
1) World rally champion Sebastian Loeb won three of six stages on gravel Friday to lead after the first leg of the Rally of Italy in Sardinia.
2) The Frenchman, driving a Citroen, leads Ford's Marcus Gronholm by 22.4 seconds ahead of Saturday's second leg.
3) Loeb won the race last year and is aiming for his fourth straight victory in seven World Championship events this year
4) Ford's Mikko Hirvonen of Finland was third, 29.1 seconds behind Loeb, followed by another Ford driver, Henning Solberg of Norway, 32.9 off the lead.
5) Loeb won stages 2, 5 and 6 but was fifth after three stages behind Jari Matti Latvala. However, the Finn broke the suspension of his Ford on the fifth stage and fell out of contention.
6) Gronholm was also unfortunate. He had a 15-second lead over Loeb going into the penultimate stage but was hampered by a broken damper.
7) Loeb capitalized on this, cutting the deficit to 2.7 seconds, before taking the overall lead on the final stage.


Hirvonen edges Gronholm at start of Acropolis Rally
(APW_ENG_20070531.1772)
1) Mikko Hirvonen nosed Ford Focus teammate Marcus Gronholm by 0.2 seconds at the start of the Acropolis Rally on Thursday.
2) The top five drivers were separated by half a second.
3) The Finn clocked 2 minutes, 50.8 seconds in winning the opening stage at Markopoulo, east of Athens.
4) Citroen's Sebastien Loeb finished the 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) gravel race 0.3 seconds behind the leader, while Subaru driver Petter Solberg was fourth and 0.4 seconds behind.
5) Spaniard Dani Sordo, driving a Citroen, placed fifth.
6) After defending champion Loeb crashed in the Rally of Italy, Gronholm leads the standings heading into the eighth race of the 16-race world championship, and is vying for a second straight Acropolis win.


Gronholm looking for fourth straight home win, seventh in eight years
(APW_ENG_20070802.1505)
1) Australian Chris Atkinson won Thursday's prologue for the Rally Finland, while local hero and three-time defending champion Marcus Gronholm edged out fellow favorite Sebastien Loeb in the opening sprint.
2) Atkinson completed the 2.06 kilometers (1.28 miles) at a local horse track in 1 minute, 20.6 seconds in his Subaru. Gronholm, seeking his seventh win in eight years in his native Finland, was next, two-tenths of a second back and one-tenth ahead of Loeb.
3) Gronholm leads the World Championship standings with 65 points, nine ahead of Loeb, the three-time reigning world champion.
4) The Finn, a master of the gravel roads in central Finland, is looking to extend his lead before the 33-year Frenchman is expected to dominate on the four events of six on concrete surface prior to the final in Britain in December.
5) "It will be very hard to beat Gronholm here in Finland," Loeb said. "I would have won the last two times here if Marcus would not have been present."
6) Gronholm, who won world titles for Peugeot in 2000 and 2002, and Citroen-driver Loeb have combine to win all but one of the eight World Rally Championship events this season. Mikko Hirvonen, Gronholm's teammate at Ford, won the Rally of Norway in February.
7) Hirvonen is third in the standings with 49 points, well ahead of Spain's Daniel Sordo (28) and the Norwegian brothers Petter (26) and Henning Solberg (24).
8) Friday's racing include 11 special stages totaling 133.5 kilometers, with the rally finishing Sunday after 360.3 kilometers of special stages.


Gronholm leads fellow Finn Hirvonen by 20.4 seconds before last leg of Finnish Rally
(APW_ENG_20070804.0573)
1) Marcus Gronholm took a 20.4-second lead over fellow Finn and Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen after Saturday's second leg of the Rally Finland.
2) Gronholm was the fastest on six of the day's nine special stages. The two-time world champion must protect his lead over three stages totaling 40.75 kilometers (25.3 miles) on Sunday to capture his seventh win in the last eight events on the fast gravel roads around the town of Jyvaskyla, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Helsinki.
3) Hirvonen holds reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb of France firmly in third place, which clearly benefits Gronholm in the fight for the title.
4) Gronholm leads the overall standings with 65 points ahead of Loeb, with 56.
5) "I tried to drive cautiously on the last stage to avoid hitting something around the road," Gronholm said. "Hirvonen drives a good rally and I can't go to rest during the rest of the rally."
6) Hirvonen won the first and last two stages of the day, twice with a margin of less than a second.
7) Loeb, driving a Citroen, was unable to keep the pace of the factory Ford Focus cars. The 33-year old three-time champion had one stage win, six third-place finishes and one fourth, losing a few seconds to Gronholm every time.


Marcus Gronholm leads Sebastian Loeb at Rally of New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20070831.0501)
1) World Rally Championship leader Marcus Gronholm of Finland held a 13 second lead over his closest championship rival, Sebastian Loeb of France, after Friday's first day and five out of 18 stages of the Rally of New Zealand.
2) Ford's Gronholm, who leads Loeb by eight points after 10 of 16 world championship events, won the first two stages on the rally's opening day to put himself in a strong position to win the New Zealand event for a record sixth time.
3) Tire choices proved important on the first two stages on sweeping, gravel roads through the Waikato district on New Zealand's North Island. Gronholm chose soft compound tires and Citroen's Loeb softer tires and both were relatively satisfied with their handling and performance.
4) Third-placed Mikko Hirvonen of Finland, in a Ford, used tires less suited to the conditions and was more than half a minute behind Gronholm after two stages. He was 49.2 seconds down in third place by the end of the day's final stage.
5) Australian Chris Atkinson, whose Ford finished day one in fourth place, had trouble with the balance of his car throughout the day while fifth-placed Jiri-Matti Latvala hit a rock near the end of stage two and finished the day with his Ford's front bumper missing.
6) Eighth-placed Henning Solberg, also in a Ford, punctured twice on stage one -- over 18.3 kilometers (11.4 miles) -- while Briton Matthew Wilson, who finished the day in 10th, slid off into a fence on an early stage. He was able to reverse onto the road and to continue.
7) "Fortunately the farmer has built a good fence and that stopped us going too far off the road," Wilson said.
8) Gronholm led by 7.2 seconds after day's first stage and doubled that margin on the second, the long, 43 kilometer (26 mile) Waitomo stage which drivers cover twice on Friday.
9) "It helped being first on the road in these conditions and my type choice was perfect," he said.
10) "The plan was to attack hard and it paid off." Loeb won the day's third and fourth stages and was only 13.5 seconds behind Gronholm entering the last, 3.5 super special stage, at Mystery Creek on which he picked up a further half second on his Finnish rival.
11) "I was better in this stage than this morning when I lost a lot of time to Marcus," Loeb said.
12) "The tires were the difference. This morning we had too soft (tires) and this afternoon it was a good choice, the same as Marcus.
13) Atkinson was fastest over the last, super special stage and was 1 minute, 21.4 seconds down on Gronholm by the end of the day, 32.2 seconds behind Hirvonen. Latvala was only 7.8 seconds behind Atkinson in fifth place and Daniel Sordo of Spain a further 4.3 seconds back in sixth.


Loeb edges Gronholm to lead Rally of New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20070901.0316)
1) World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb held a tenuous 1.7 second advantage over championship leader Marcus Gronholm after the second day and 11 stages of the 18-stage WRC Rally of New Zealand on Saturday.
2) Loeb, in a Citroen, won the sixth and final stage on the second day by 5.4 seconds to grab the rally lead for the first time and challenge Gronholm and Ford's narrow hold on the championship.
3) Finland's Gronholm leads Loeb, of France, by eight points on world standings after 11 of 16 races. Events in New Zealand Sunday, when the rally concludes with its last seven stages, now seem pivotal to the championship's eventual outcome.
4) Gronholm, in a Ford Focus, started the day 13 seconds ahead of Loeb and saw that margin fluctuate between 3.6 and 14.9 seconds as he and the Citroen driver engaged in a head-to-head struggle through the day's first five stages.
5) Loeb made a sound tire choice early in the day and won the first, 17.21 kilometer (10.6 mile) stage by 3.1 seconds from Gronholm to trim the Finnish driver's rally lead to 9.9 seconds.
6) "We are running soft tires. I am concerned about this because Loeb has hard tires on," Gronholm said as the stage ended.
7) Gronholm put those concerns to rest temporarily when he won the second stage by five seconds to build his margin after seven special stages to 14.9 seconds. Loeb finished fourth.
8) "We were on hard tires and that made the stage very difficult and I lost a lot of time on Marcus," Loeb said.
9) Loeb was still on hard tires through the 31.57 kilometer (19.5 mile) third stage of the day which he won by 11.3 seconds to slash Gronholm's margin to 3.6 seconds, his slimmest advantage to that time.
10) "For that stage it was a good tire choice," Loeb said.
11) Gronholm, running soft tires on the winding Franklin stage, found handling difficult.
12) "The tires are too soft," he said. "The car was like a snake all the time."
13) Gronholm edged Loeb by 0.4 seconds on the fast, 3.1 kilometer (1.9 mile) super special stage at Mystery Creek to open a 4 second gap on his French rival. Loeb trimmed that to 3.7 seconds when he won the rally's 10th stage, over 31.92 kilometers (19.8 miles), by 0.3 seconds.
14) Loeb swept into the rally lead when he completed the day's 32.64 kilometer (20.2 mile) final stage in 16 minutes, 59.8 seconds to beat Gronholm by 5.4 seconds.
15) He held a 1.7 second margin over his Ford rival by the end of the day, turning the rally into a private contest between the championship pacesetters.
16) "The gap is not big. It will be a hard Sunday, not a Sunday drive like usual," Loeb said.
17) "I pushed really hard today and couldn't do better. I made a few mistakes but we are still on the road...just."
18) There was a further 1 minute, 10.8 seconds back to Ford's Mikko Hirvonen in third place. Jari-Matti Latvala moved up to fourth Saturday, 2 minutes, 2.3 seconds behind Loeb and 10.5 seconds ahead of Chris Atkinson of Australia.


Gronholm edges Loeb for fifth Rally of New Zealand win
(APW_ENG_20070902.0160)
1) Finland's Marcus Gronholm edged Sebastian Loeb by 0.3 seconds Sunday in the closest finish in World Rally Championship history to win the Rally of New Zealand for a record fifth time.
2) After trailing Loeb by 1.7 seconds at the start of the third and final day, Gronholm came to the last of the rally's 18 stages -- a 3.1-kilometer (1.9-mile) dash around a purpose-built circuit -- leading his French rival by 0.7 seconds.
3) Gronholm and Loeb were on the road simultaneously, left to decide the outcome of the rally and their standings in the world driver's championship in one last, desperate sprint. Their nearest challenger, third-place Mikko Hirvonen of Finland, was more than 1 minute, 40 seconds behind.
4) Gronholm's Ford Focus flashed across the finish line in 2:52.9 -- the fastest time ever on the stage -- but moments later Loeb's Citroen C4 crossed in 2:52.5, for a stage record.
5) He was 0.4 seconds faster than Gronholm but his margin was not enough to prevent the Finn, who had pushed his Ford Focus to its limit throughout the rally, winning the event by a microscopic margin.
6) Gronholm immediately leapt onto the roof of his car and thrust his arms into the air in relief and delight.
7) "It was really, really tough today," he said. "It's never been that close before. We could have been sad but, fortunately, it was our day today."
8) Gronholm led Loeb by eight points on world championship standings -- 80 points to 72 -- after the rally of Germany which was the 10th of 16 races in this year's World Rally Championship.
9) His win Sunday increased his championship margin to 10 points -- 90 to 80 -- while Hirvonen remained in third place on 69 points overall.
10) Gronholm and Loeb fought a head-to-head battle through all three days and 18 stages of the New Zealand rally. The largest margin between the pair after any time was the 14.9-second split Gronholm enjoyed after the second stage on Friday. After that point, neither driver held a lead of more than 10 seconds.
11) "For sure it was a good week for us," Loeb said.
12) "We had a really big fight with Marcus and he was faster than us by 0.3 seconds. It's frustrating but what could we do? It was a big fight but he was a bit faster so he won."
13) Gronholm won two and Loeb two of the first five stages on Friday -- fourth-placed Australian Chris Atkinson won the fifth -- and of the last 13 stages, Loeb won seven and Gronholm six.
14) The Ford driver led by 13 seconds at the end of the first day but Loeb ate into his margin and eventually snatched the lead on the last stage of the second day, carrying his 1.7-second advantage into Sunday.
15) Gronholm won the first stage on the final day to wrest back the lead by 0.1 seconds. Loeb won the next two stages, including the 29.81-kilometer (18.5-mile) 14th stage along the Whaanga Coast and led by 2.9 seconds with four stages remaining.
16) Gronholm them reeled off three straight stage wins to take his delicate, 0.7-second lead into the last sprint for victory.
17) "It was a bit difficult to start that last stage because I knew I had to push to the maximum and not make any mistakes," he said. "Finally, we got there but 0.3 seconds is not much."
18) Hirvonen was 1:42 behind the winner and Atkinson, in a Ford, held off Jari-Matti Latvala for fourth.


Sebastien Loeb wins 5 of 6 special stages to extend lead at Tour of Corsica
(APW_ENG_20071013.0585)
1) Sebastien Loeb won five of six special stages Saturday to extend his lead at the Tour of Corsica, with overall rally leader Marcus Gronholm in second.
2) Loeb, the three-time defending world champion, extended his lead over the Finnish driver to 27.5 seconds, after coming into Saturday with a thin 4.8-second lead.
3) The Frenchman narrowly missed a clean sweep of all six stages, losing one by 0.3 seconds to Spain's Dani Sordo.
4) Heading into the last four specials on the third and final day, Loeb has a time of 2 hours, 20 minutes, 58.6 seconds.
5) After 12 of 16 races, Gronholm has 96 points and Loeb has 90. Finland's Mikko Hirvonen is third overall with 74 points.


Loeb 3rd overall after 1st day of Rally of Wales, in contention for world title
(APW_ENG_20071130.1097)
1) Sebastien Loeb is on course to win a fourth consecutive world championship title after a cautious start on the opening day of a wet, muddy and foggy Rally of Wales, which was marred by a crash that injured two spectators.
2) After six of 17 stages, Loeb was in third place overall on Friday, 57.9 seconds behind leader Mikko Hirvonen.
3) Title rival Marcus Gronholm was second, 39.6 seconds behind Hirvonen, who won five of the day's six stages. Loeb won the other.
4) Loeb needs to finish in fifth place or better in the final rally of the year to equal Tommi Makinen's record of four consecutive world titles, set from 1996-99.
5) During the first stage, Simon Harraway's Subaru went off the forest track and two spectators were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.
6) Harraway and his navigator were unhurt.
7) The crash didn't affect the leading drivers, as Hirvonen won the stage in 9 minutes, 15.2 seconds and also captured the next three. Loeb won the fifth before Hirvonen won the day's final stage.
8) Drivers had to contend with heavy rain, fog, mud and rutted gravel roads and finished the day's racing in darkness.
9) Loeb leads the standings with 110 points, followed by Marcus Gronholm on 104 and Hirvonen with 89. Loeb moved into the overall lead by winning the Rally Ireland on Nov. 18 after Gronholm crashed out.
10) The 39-year-old Gronholm, who won the world title in 2000 and '02, will retire at the end of the season.
11) Ford has already won the manufacturer's title.


Sebastien Loeb wins record-equaling fourth consecutive championship at Wales Rally
(APW_ENG_20071202.0431)
1) Sebastien Loeb won a fourth consecutive world championship when he finished third in the season-ending Wales Rally on Sunday.
2) Loeb, who needed to finish at least fifth to equal Tommi Makinen's 1996-99 record for consecutive titles, finished 1 minute, 17.8 seconds behind race winner Mikko Hirvonen.
3) Marcus Gronholm, who lost the lead in the standings when he crashed out of last month's Rally Ireland, finished in second place -- 15.2 seconds off Hirvonen's total time of 3 hours, 22 minutes, 50.9 seconds.


Loeb starts rally season with win at Monte Carlo
(APW_ENG_20080127.0752)
1) Four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb cautiously drove on the last leg of the Monte Carlo Rally on Sunday to start the season on a high.
2) The French driver completed the four-day race in 3 hours, 39 minutes, 17 seconds to win the race for a record fifth time.
3) "It's always nice to start the season with a win, but I have no intention of getting carried away because there are some very difficult rallies to come," Loeb said.
4) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland has become Loeb's main rival for the title since Marcus Gronholm's retirement. The Ford driver took second place, 2:34.4 behind Loeb.
5) Hirvonen, however, never managed to put Loeb under pressure in the asphalt event as he feels more comfortable on surfaces such as ice and gravel.
6) Loeb took advantage of a lead of 2:10.6 after the third leg to preserve his tires.
7) "The most significant thing is the way we won this year," Loeb said. "Our Citroen C4 performed faultlessly throughout and the set-up we chose for the start proved excellent."
8) The highlight of the fourth leg was the battle between Chris Atkinson of Australia and Francois Duval of Belgium for third place.
9) Duval trailed the Subaru driver by only 20.1 seconds before the 15th stage.
10) By the end of the last stage, Duval had almost closed the gap on Atkinson, winning four of Sunday's five stages. But Atkinson finally kept third place.
11) "This year's change of tire manufacturer has induced a few changes to the behavior of the car," Atkinson said. "I spun in the first curve of stage 18."
12) The next rally will be held in Karlstad, Sweden, from Feb. 8-10.


Sebastien Loeb drops out of Swedish Rally after mishap; Latvala has big lead
(APW_ENG_20080208.1263)
1) World champion Sebastien Loeb withdrew from the Swedish Rally on Friday after a crash on the fourth stage, enabling Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland to take nearly a one-minute lead.
2) With Loeb, who won Thursday's prolouge, out of the race, Latvala won six of seven special stages to take a 56.3-second lead ahead of fellow Ford Focus driver Henning Solberg of Norway.
3) Latvala, who finished out of the points in the season opener in Monte Carlo last month, had a total time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 33.3 seconds after two days of racing in western Sweden.
4) "I did some good times in the morning, but it was a surprise for me that I could do that in the afternoon as well," Latvala said. "I felt good all day and I hope I'll feel the same way tomorrow."
5) Solberg capitalized on a 10-second penalty given to Mikko Hirvonen of Finland for arriving late at the final checkpoint.
6) "I have no idea why I got the penalty," said Hirvonen, another Ford Focus driver who was runner-up in Monte Carlo.
7) With the penalty, Hirvonen dropped to third overall, 58.2 seconds behind the leader.
8) Loeb, who won the season opener, had three kilometers (1.9 miles) left on the fourth stage when he went off the icy road and got stuck in a snow drift.
9) The Frenchman eventually got his Citroen back on the road, but he lost more than four minutes. After a service stop at Sunne in west Sweden, Loeb gave up.
10) "One of my wheels got stuck in the snow drift and we flipped over," Loeb said.
11) Hirvonen was surprised.
12) "I lost my rhythm ... you know, Loeb almost always stays on the road."
13) Four years ago, Loeb became the first non-Nordic driver to win the rally in its 57-year history. The four-time world champion was trying to win a record 100th world rally event.
14) Gianluigi Galli of Italy was 1:02.0 behind in fourth place in another Ford Focus.
15) Petter Solberg, Henning's brother and the 2003 world champion, was fifth in a Subaru, 1:45.2 back.
16) The rally ends Sunday.


Latvala wins Swedish Rally, becomes youngest winner of world championship race
(APW_ENG_20080210.0516)
1) Jari-Matti Latvala won the Swedish Rally on Sunday and became the youngest winner ever of a world championship event.
2) The 22-year-old Finn, who took the lead for good when he won six of seven stages on opening day, had a total time of 2 hours, 46 minutes and 41.2 seconds. Mikko Hirvonen made it a double for Ford Focus and Finland, 58.3 seconds behind.
3) The previous youngest winner of a world championship event was the late Finn Henri Toivonen, who was 24 when he captured the 1980 RAC Rally.
4) "It's a super feeling," Latvala said. "It's almost unbelievable! Henri was one of my idols and secretly I've always wanted to beat his record as the youngest winner.
5) "The rally started so well from the first stage. We've made no mistakes, the car has been absolutely perfect and I've been able to control the speed -- I'm really happy about that. I feel very comfortable now, this result has given me a lot of self confidence and I'm really looking forward to (the next race in) Mexico," he added.
6) Latvala's only previous podium finish came in Rally Ireland last November.
7) Gianluigi Galli of Italy, another Ford Focus driver, trailed Latvala by 2:23.2 in third place.
8) After two races, Hirvonen leads the overall standings with 16 points. Latvala, who did not finish the season opener in Monte Carlo last month, share second at 10 points with defending four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb of France.
9) Loeb withdrew from the Swedish Rally on Saturday after a crash the previous day.


Loeb takes lead on second day of Rally Mexico; Latvala falls with engine trouble
(APW_ENG_20080302.0079)
1) World champion Sebastian Loeb won four of Saturday's eight stages built a lead of 1 minute, 1.4 seconds over Australian Chris Atkinson on the second day of the Rally Mexico.
2) Loeb, a Frenchman driving for Citroen, won the first two stages to turn a 9.6-second deficit into a 4.6-second lead, and won the next two extend that to 12.9 seconds over first-day leader Jari-Matti Latvala.
3) Latvala developed a busted pipe on his turbocharger and fell way off the pace, finishing the day in third, 2:06.4 back.
4) Atkinson, driving for Subaru who was third after the first day, won the final stage of the day to move into second.
5) "It has been better today, but I don't know why," Loeb said. "For the time being, we'll try to go as fast as possible to keep the lead as long as possible."
6) Norway's Henning Solberg won two stages and was fourth, 3 minutes, 51.6 seconds behind the Loeb, while Finn Mikko Hirvonen, was next 4 minutes, 7.5 seconds off the leader. Matthew Wilson of Great Britain came sixth at 6 minutes, 10.6 seconds behind.


Mikko Hirvonen takes halfway lead in opening day of WRC ' s Rally Argentina
(APW_ENG_20080328.1164)
1) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland established a big lead through rain and fog over four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb after the fourth stage of the Rally Argentina on Friday.
2) The Ford driver lead by 50.8 seconds over the Frenchman in his Citroen as fog cut down on visibility on the rugged hill circuit. There are four further stages later Friday, finishing with a sprint at a stadium.
3) Chris Atkinson of Australia was third in his Subaru, 43 seconds behind Loeb.
4) Hirvonen got a jump on the pack in the opening 18-kilometer (11.5-mile) stage, leading closest pursuer and Ford teammate Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland by 48 seconds.
5) Hirvonen also won the 23-kilometer (14-mile) hilly second stage near La Cumbre, Cordoba, and the last stage, a 9.6-kilometer (6.1-mile) loop.
6) For Latvala, the strong early showing was followed by some bad luck.
7) Latvala took a tight corner much too hard on the second stage, his car bouncing and rolling sideways against a tree. Spectators helped get the car back on the track, and he was able to continue despite minor dents and a crack in the windshield. But he lost nine minutes to fall behind the leading pace.
8) The rally began with a ceremonial start Thursday night in Cordoba that saw soccer great Diego Maradona ride in the passenger seat alongside Loeb, the defending Rally Argentina champion.
9) "I feel fantastic -- just divine," Maradona said.
10) Friday's course totaled eight special stages over 152 kilometers (91 miles) in northern Cordoba. It was to finish later Friday on a 1.78-kilometer (1.1-mile) super special set up in Cordoba city soccer stadium.
11) Argentina is the fourth stop on the WRC circuit, a race featuring off-road racing on gravel through washouts, hairpin curves and bumpy hills at breakneck speed.


Defending champ Loeb keeps lead on second day of WRC ' s Rally Argentina
(APW_ENG_20080330.0048)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France won three special stages Saturday and consolidated his lead in the Rally Argentina to 79.6 seconds after two days of the Rally Argentina.
2) Loeb won the 11th, 12th and 15th special stages to finish with 3 hours, 28 minutes and 16.5 seconds in his Citroen with one day remaining.
3) Norway's Petter Solberg, third after Friday's racing, reduced his deficit by 29.3 seconds behind Loeb and passed Subaru teammate Chris Atkinson of Australia to take over second place.
4) Atkinson, who trailed by 1:19.6 on Friday, fell to third, 2:08.5 behind Loeb.
5) Solberg won the day's first stage, the No. 10 circuit from Santa Monica to Amboy on rugged hills made slick and muddy by rains a day earlier.
6) But defending champion Loeb, won the next two stages, and with the victory in the 15th stage, surged comfortably ahead by more than 1:25.
7) Solberg rallied to win the final three stages, including a super special sprint through the Cordoba soccer stadium -- to close the gap.
8) Cloudy skies and intermittent rains hampered the day's driving, with occasional patches of dense fog cutting visibility down for the drivers.
9) Sunday's final three special stages are expected to feature some of the toughest hill country tests of the three-day competition, including rutted gravel-strewn tracks, hairpin turns and washouts.
10) The 28th Rally Argentina, which features more than 1,620 kilometers (960 miles) of driving, concludes Sunday afternoon with a super special in which two cars will race simultaneously in the Cordoba stadium before the winner is crowned.


Loeb cruises on final day, wins fourth straight Rally Argentina
(APW_ENG_20080330.0791)
1) Sebastien Loeb won another stage and easily claimed his fourth straight Rally Argentina title Sunday.
2) It was the Frenchman's third victory of the year and 39th of his career, mastering the rugged, muddy hills of Cordoba to finish in 5 hours, 5 minutes, 48.6 seconds and put him on and early track for a fifth world title.
3) Chris Atkinson of Australia, driving a Subaru, finished second, 2 minutes, 33.2 seconds behind, and Loeb's Citroen teammate Daniel Sordo of Spain finished third, 4:04.7 behind.
4) Loeb, who also won in Monte Carlo and Mexico this year, took the second of four stages Sunday. Over three days, he won four of 21 special stages.
5) Loeb said muddy conditions made for an extremely difficult race, particularly on the final day. But he said getting out in front of the pack on Friday was the key.
6) "We had a good fight on the first day. But after that, we were in the lead," he said.
7) Loeb led by more than a minute and a half after Friday's racing, which was reduced to 79.6 seconds on Saturday.
8) Drivers remarked about the hairpin turns, washouts and gravelly roads through intermittent rain, occasional patches of dense fog and mud.
9) Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen won three specials Friday in his Ford but then hit a rock, lost time and finished the day nearly 24 minutes behind in 25th place.
10) Loeb improved to 30 points atop the overall standings, five more than Hirvonen and eight more than Atkinson.
11) "I really enjoy racing here in Argentina. The specials are all very quick and its a good run," he said.
12) But he added that the more than 1,600-kilometer (960-mile) course provide some of the most complicated racing on the WRC circuit and he didn't know if he could continue his string of consecutive victories.
13) "I know that this victory streak can be cut at any time," he added, speaking in a news conference.


World champion Sebastien Loeb crashes in Jordan Rally
(APW_ENG_20080426.0638)
1) Dani Sordo maintained an eight-second lead after the second day of the Jordan Rally, with defending world champion Sebastien Loeb crashing out in a head-on collision with another car.
2) Sordo clocked 2 hours, 29 minutes, 2.9 seconds in his Citroen to edge Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala in his Ford Focus. Mikko Hirvonen was third, also in a Ford, just over 10 seconds behind Sordo.
3) With the leader starting first on Sunday -- a distinct disadvantage on the slippery gravel roads -- both Hirvonen and Latvala slowed down near the end of the final stage to make sure Sordo remained in front.
4) "Some rain would help, but that's pretty unlikely," Sordo said. "Realistically, I think it's going to be more difficult to be first on the road tomorrow than it has been today, because the long stage has so much gravel on it. The repeat pass should be better, so I'll just have to hope I do OK in the morning."
5) Saturday's stages were held under a blazing sun and passed through several of Jordan's historic sites by the Dead Sea.
6) Loeb led after the first three stages, but then collided his Citroen with Conrad Rautenbach on a blind bend in Shuneh. Neither driver was injured in the accident, and Citroen spokeswoman Marie Pierre Rossi said Loeb would likely be able to continue the race on Sunday.
7) "The damage was minor, and the cars are now being fixed," Rossi said.
8) She said the accident happened at a "low speed" on a narrow road as one car went up a hill and the other traveled down in another stage of the event.
9) The race ends Sunday with six special stages, the final leg taking drivers through the Jordan River area that skirts the border with Israel.


Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen wins Jordan Rally; overtakes Loeb in overall standings
(APW_ENG_20080427.0605)
1) Mikko Hirvonen won the Jordan Rally on Sunday to move into the lead of the World Rally Championship.
2) The 27-year-old Finn finished the three-day event in the WRC fifth round in 4 hours, 2 minutes, 47.9 seconds in his Ford, 1:15.7 ahead of second-place Dani Sordo of Spain in a Citroen.
3) Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb was 10th in 4:26:26. He collided Saturday with Citroen teammate Conrad Rautenbach after the 11th stage.
4) Hirvonen leads with 35 points, five ahead of Loeb and seven more than Chris Atkinson of Australia.
5) "It's fantastic -- and very good news for our title fight," Hirvonen said. "But that last stage was so nerve racking. I had no split times on Dani and no idea how fast he was going. I'm really happy to win and take the 10 points."
6) Sordo led by eight seconds on Saturday, but a spin near the start of the final stage put him behind.
7) "I tried my best and pushed as hard as possible today," Sordo said. "But the gravel was the worst of the event, and my wheels were just spinning in some places. We lost time with a spin at the start of the last stage, and then all we could do was drive to the finish. But I'm very happy to get eight championship points."
8) Atkinson was third for the fourth time this season in his Subaru, nearly five minutes behind Hirvonen.
9) "It's another good points finish, it's good for the team and keeps us near the front in the championship," Atkinson said. "But we want to be winning, not just on the podium."


Loeb leads after first day of Acropolis Rally
(APW_ENG_20080530.1023)
1) Frenchman Sebastien Loeb dominated the first day of the Acropolis Rally, taking four of the seven stages.
2) The defending world champion ended 15.7 seconds ahead of fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo of Spain Friday, and 59.1 in front of Subaru driver Petter Solberg of Norway.
3) The grueling Greek rally ends Sunday.
4) Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen was seventh at the end of the first day. The Ford driver had a broken suspension in the 4.6-kilometer (2.9-mile) final stage, which cost him 50 seconds and three places in the day's rankings.


Sebastien Loeb retains lead after 2nd day of Acropolis Rally
(APW_ENG_20080531.0471)
1) Sebastien Loeb retained the overall lead after the second day of the Acropolis Rally on Saturday, despite not winning a single stage.
2) Subaru driver Petter Solberg of Norway was 28.7 seconds back in second place, while his older brother Henning was third, 1 minute, 5.3 seconds behind Loeb.
3) Loeb, the defending world champion, won four of the seven stages Friday but was beaten on all six of Saturday's legs.
4) Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen dominated the second day, winning three stages and moving from seventh to fourth overall, 3 minutes, 5.6 seconds behind. Italy's Gigi Galli won two stages but trailed in 35th place overall.
5) Loeb's fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo of Spain, who was second until the day's penultimate stage, punctured a tire and fell to seventh, 5 minutes, 33.6 seconds behind.
6) The course featured rough terrain, with Henning Solberg saying that the "rocks in the stages are as big as modern TVs or like washing machines."
7) The rally ends Sunday.


Loeb narrowly leads Solberg after first day of Turkish Rally
(APW_ENG_20080613.1160)
1) Sebastian Loeb beat Henning Solberg by 1 second Friday to lead the first day of the Turkish Rally.
2) The Citroen driver and defending champion took an early lead, winning the first stage on a dry gravel course. Loeb fell back in subsequent stages before winning the 7th leg.
3) Jari Matti Latvala of Finland finished third overall.
4) Loeb, who won the Turkish Rally in 2004 and 2005, is looking to widen his one-point lead in the 2008 title race against Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen of Finland.
5) Hirvonen finished fifth Friday.
6) Unlike past years, the weather in Kemer near the Mediterranean city of Antalya was dry and bright, making the event's mountain roads easier to access.
7) The Turkish Rally -- the eighth leg of the championship -- ends Sunday.


Hirvonen leads Latvala after second day of Turkish Rally
(APW_ENG_20080614.0855)
1) Miko Hirvonen of Finland piloted his Ford Focus to a 16.2-second lead on countryman Jari Matti Latvala on the second day of the Turkish Rally on Saturday.
2) Running third was defending champion Sebastien Loeb, 34.3 seconds off the lead.
3) Loeb leads the overall series by only a point from Hirvonen, and both knew the half-minute gap between them going into Sunday's last three stages gave hope to both.
4) "It's going to be a big fight tomorrow," Hirvonen said. "I've been flat out all day, but I don't know if my lead is enough. Sunday's going to be a difficult day."
5) Henning Solberg of Norway was fourth and seemingly out of contention at more than two minutes behind.
6) The first stage of Saturday's racing was canceled after Mitsubishi driver Bernardo Sousa hit and injured a Belgian spectator in the leg.


World champion Loeb leads Finnish rally
(APW_ENG_20080801.1077)
1) Four-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb posted the fastest times on 10 of 11 special stages Friday to take a 14.4-second lead over Mikko Hirvonen after the first day in the Rally Finland.
2) The French Citroen driver is trying for his first win in the fast event on gravel roads in central Finland.
3) After eight events this season, Loeb trails Hirvonen by three points overall, 56 against 59. Hirvonen, who drives for Ford, was not worse than second on the 10 full stages, but finished sixth on the two-kilometer show stage on a horse track at the end of the day, which was won by Loeb.
4) New Finnish star Jari-Matti Latvala, who won the year's second event in Sweden and is third overall in the championship, had to retire on the third stage. Latvala, also a Ford driver, hit a stone and damaged a tire, which led to the car going off the road and ending in a ditch.
5) Henning Solberg of Norway, another Ford driver, came on strong after the first few stages and held third, dueling with stable teammate Gigi Galli of Italy. They trail Loeb by 53.1 and 56.2 seconds respectively.
6) Formerly known as the Rally of the 1,000 Lakes, the Finnish world championship rally is one of the most popular events in the series. It's a fast gravel rally with high-speed runs along tree-lined tracks, peppered with fast, flying jumps that demand absolute commitment.
7) Over the years, the event has been dominated by the Nordic drivers who are used to driving on roads like these.
8) Rally Finland consists of 24 special stages and ends Sunday. Marcus Gronholm of Finland won last year, but has since retired.


Sebastien Loeb wins his 1st Rally Finland
(APW_ENG_20080803.0467)
1) Four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb of France won the Rally Finland on Sunday for the first time and closed in on the overall championship lead.
2) Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, the overall leader, finished nine seconds behind in second place after 340 kilometers (211 miles) of special stages.
3) "It was a great fight all week," Citroen driver Loeb said. "You had to be careful not to miss any junctions, and to not go over the limit."
4) The 34-year-old Frenchman is now just one point behind Hirvonen in the world championship standings. Ford driver Hirvonen, 28, has 67 points against Loeb's 66, with six events left.
5) "It feels really good," Loeb said. "It is hard to remember all my wins, but this absolutely ranks as one of the very best. The greatest satisfaction from a win comes when it is a result of such a fight."
6) Loeb has won a record 42 championship events, but had never been victorious on the fast gravel roads in central Finland, one of the circuit's most prestigious races.
7) French Prime Minister Francois Fillon called Loeb to congratulate him on his "great performance," according to a statement by Fillon's office.
8) "This latest success by a French driver and the Citroen team completes an exceptional honor," Sunday's statement said.
9) During the first day Loeb took a 14.4-second lead and increased it to 18.2 on Saturday. Loeb dropped 9.2 seconds on the last two stages Sunday, securing a 9.0-second win.
10) "I cannot complain, I gave it all and cannot tell what could have been done better," Hirvonen said. "Loeb just throttled his way a few seconds faster."
11) Australian Chris Atkinson, in a Subaru, kept his third place during the last stages Sunday. Atkinson also moved to third overall with 37 points, two ahead of Spain's Daniel Sordo. Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala is a further point behind.


Loeb leads after day 1 of Germany Rally
(APW_ENG_20080815.1261)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France led the Rally Germany after the opening day on Friday in his bid for a seventh straight victory on the Mosel vineyards roads.
2) The Citroen driver opened a 19.9-second lead over World Rally Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen, despite the Finn not being considered a top contender on asphalt in his Ford.
3) "For sure Mikko is going very well and I've had to push very hard," said Loeb, a four-time world champion. "This afternoon I've been on the limit all the time and it's been difficult to increase the gap. It was possible on the first loop, but on the second he was going well everywhere.
4) "But OK, 20 seconds is a good lead for a first day on tarmac, and for the moment it's going well. There are lots of tough new stages tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what happens."
5) Hirvonen leads Loeb by one point in the drivers' standings and he felt comfortable in the three afternoon special stages.
6) "I always knew the speed was there, because we set fastest stages here last year, but for some reason I could not find it in the morning," he said. "Now it's here again and I hope I can keep it going tomorrow. It feels really good in the car and I'm enjoying myself. For tomorrow it's a simple plan -- full attack."
7) Loeb's teammate Dani Sordo of Spain held second place for much of the day, but was overtaken by Hirvonen in the fifth of the day's six stages.
8) Sordo will start Saturday's competition 5.7 seconds behind Hirvonen.
9) "The feeling in the car is better now but I had the harder tires this afternoon and in the hairpins I lost a lot of time," he said. "But tomorrow we'll see. Mikko's going well, so my first job is to catch him, and then we'll see."


Loeb leads after day 2 of Germany Rally
(APW_ENG_20080816.0879)
1) Sebastien Loeb stayed on course for his seventh consecutive victory at the Rally Germany when he increased his lead after two days of racing.
2) The Frenchman ended Saturday with a 40.3-second lead over Citroen teammate Dani Sordo of Spain.
3) Loeb won all but one of the day's eight special stages -- with the other one going to Sordo -- despite reducing the power of his Citroen to preserve the engine for later rallies.
4) "It's been a very good day, but now we've taken a bit of power from the engine so it's going to be difficult to win all the stages," four-time world champion Loeb said. "The important thing is I have a good lead for tomorrow and it's looking very positive. I'm not taking any big risks, just concentrating on keeping a good rhythm and, of course, having fun."
5) Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen of Finland struggled the whole day in his Ford and dropped from second to fourth when a left rear puncture in the final stage cost him nearly 40 seconds.
6) "The car felt quite different today," said Hirvonen, who leads Loeb overall by one point. "I need to be braver and I didn't have the confidence to drive flat out like yesterday. The nature of the stages was also different. I tried everything but we're just not there yet."
7) Francois Duval of Belgium took advantage of Hirvonen's mishap to move into third, 3.9 seconds ahead of the Finn.


Last year ' s loss spurs Loeb in New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20080828.0147)
1) Frenchman Sebastian Loeb's close loss to Marcus Gronholm in last year's Rally of New Zealand has spurred the world championship leader's determination to go one better in the 2008 rally starting Friday.
2) Finnish-born Gronholm's winning margin of three tenths of a second last year was the smallest in championship history and prevented Loeb from repeating his 2005 win at New Zealand.
3) "We missed out on victory last year by just three-tenths of a second after one of the most thrilling fights the WRC has ever seen," Loeb said. "I won't be able to take revenge this time though, because Marcus Gronholm isn't competing any more."
4) Loeb said New Zealand had become one of his favorites races since competed here in 2002.
5) "The lush green backdrop to the stages is magnificent," he said. "The stages are fast and technically demanding, but the cars don't suffer. From the driving point of view, it's certainly one of my favorite events."
6) As championship leader, Loeb will start first on Friday's stages, a possible disadvantage because of the loose gravel which is swept from the road by the earliest starters.
7) "How big a handicap that turns out to be will depend on how damp the conditions are," Loeb said. "There are quite a few stages that we will only contest once, so we potentially stand to lose quite a lot of time. That said, the fact that we will be first on the road on day one means that we are on top in the championship, and we intend to do all we can to defend that lead."
8) The Rally of New Zealand offers Ford and Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen of Finland a chance to regain the lead in the manufacturers' and drivers' championships, conceded to Loeb and Citroen in the last round at Germany.
9) Hirvonen trails Loeb by four points on drivers' standings after 10 rallies and Ford trails Citroen by eight points on manufacturers' standings.
10) Hirvonen said the New Zealand rally should suit Ford's all-Finnish team.
11) "The roads in New Zealand have a good rhythm to them and they are so smooth that there's no need to worry about damaging the car on rocks," Hirvonen said.
12) "The engine improvements on the new car that we debuted in Germany have made a difference," he added. "The tight regulations mean it's not possible to make big steps forward, but the engine response has definitely improved. Everything happens a little faster than it did so I hope that will benefit us in New Zealand also."


Hirvonen leads Loeb at Rally NZ after day one
(APW_ENG_20080829.0294)
1) World championship leader Sebastien Loeb slid off the road on the first special stage and incurred a 30 second penalty on the sixth to trail rival Mikko Hirvonen by 27.8 seconds after the first day of Rally New Zealand on Friday.
2) The Frenchman began the rally four points ahead of the Finn in the drivers championship and attempting to win for a second time in New Zealand to strengthen his challenge for a fifth consecutive world title.
3) As championship leader, Loeb's Citroen was the first car on the road on the 24-kilometer opening stage, the first of 18 stages in the 11th round of the world championship. He was near the end of the stage when his car lost traction in deep gravel and slid from the road, conceding an early lead to his Ford rivals.
4) He finished the stage 5.9 seconds off the lead, third behind the Finnish pair of Jarri-Matti Latvala and Hirvonen, jointly leading Ford's challenge for the manufacturers' title.
5) After wins on special stages four and five, Loeb moved to second, only 0.7 seconds behind Hirvonen who had taken over the lead from his Ford teammate.
6) Just as he seemed poised to press Hirvonen for the overall lead, Loeb had engine trouble and was three minutes late to the startline for special stage six, incurring a 30 second time penalty.
7) Loeb won the stage by 3.3 seconds from Hirvonen but the penalty dropped him to 27.4 seconds behind the Finn on overall standings, two seconds ahead of Latvala who held third.
8) Hirvonen then took out the final 3.1 kilometer super special stage from Citroen's Dani Sordo and Loeb to finish the day 27.8 seconds ahead of the championship leader. Sordo moved to third place, 30 seconds off Hirvonen's lead and 0.1 second ahead of Latvala who dropped back to fourth.
9) Loeb said his slide on stage one showed the problems of starting first on the slick mud and gravel roads of New Zealand's Waikato district, the rally headquarters.
10) "We went off at the end. It was a big moment," he said.
11) "That's why the last split time is really bad. We didn't lose so much time but we were very lucky not to roll because the car went off the road and hit some big stones."
12) Loeb's first stage experience led to speculation his engine problems and late start on stage six might have been tactical, forcing leader Hirvonen to drive the stage first and also start day two Saturday sweeping the road for the other competitors.
13) Loeb was unable to start his Citroen C4, opened the bonnet and later pushed the car with the help of co-driver Daniel Elena.
14) "I just hit the starter button and it didn't work," Loeb said.
15) "We tried everything. In the end we rolled the car back, pushed it and finally got it going. It had nothing to do with tactics."
16) Hirvonen did not think Loeb's late start was tactical.
17) "I don't know what was wrong, but Seb really did seem to have a problem," he said.
18) "So tomorrow it looks like I'll be first car on the road. Okay, it won't be easy but we've found a good rhythm today, so we'll see what we can do."


Latvala takes lead at Rally of New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20080830.0188)
1) Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala seized a nine-second lead after day two of the Rally of New Zealand on Saturday as world championship rivals Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen prepared for a final-day showdown.
2) Latvala, a Ford teammate of Hirvonen, swept through the 32.36 kilometer final stage of the day -- the 13th and longest stage of the 18-stage rally -- to regain a lead he last held after stage one on Friday.
3) Hirvonen had led the rally by 27.8 seconds from Loeb after day one and held that lead through four of Saturday's six stages but finished ninth on the final stage to drop 9.3 seconds behind Latvala.
4) Loeb, who had gained the lead on the day's fifth stage, finished 10th on stage 13, some 26.5 seconds behind Latvala and 8.2 seconds behind Hirvonen and will now start the final day in third place, 13.3 seconds from the leader.
5) Day two interest centered on the battle for the rally lead between Loeb and Hirvonen, who are separated by only four points after 10 rounds of the world drivers' championship.
6) Loeb, driving for Citroen which holds an eight point lead over Ford in the manufacturers' championship, trailed Hirvonen after incurring a 30 second time penalty in the sixth stage on day one.
7) He was penalized for being three minutes late to the start line after apparently having trouble starting the engine of his Citroen C4. The delay may have been tactical, as the penalty meant Hirvonen was overnight leader and therefore the first car on the road for each of Saturday's stages.
8) Hirvonen was thereby forced to tackle the roads of New Zealand's Waikato district when their gravel coating was at its thickest and when gaining traction was most difficult.
9) Hirvonen conceded time to Loeb on each of Saturday's first four stages before the Frenchman and world championship leader snatched the overall lead after the 31.92 kilometer fifth stage.
10) Loeb said he wanted to end the day with a 20 second lead to counteract the disadvantage of having to sweep the roads for later drivers on the final day Sunday. When he realized he would not be able to obtain that margin, he shed time on the last stage of the day to give up the lead.
11) "I decided at the end to slow down," he said.
12) "It's the only way with these regulations." Latvala then stepped up to post the fastest time on the final stage and to take over the outright lead, meaning both Loeb and Hirvonen will have the benefit of better grip and similar conditions on Sunday.
13) The final day, which comprises five stages, is likely to be a tense one, with only 15.4 seconds between Latvala and Loeb's Citroen teammate Dani Sordo in fourth place.


Loeb wins Rally New Zealand, extends WRC lead
(APW_ENG_20080831.0156)
1) World champion Sebastien Loeb took advantage of Mikko Hirvonen's spin on the second-to-last stage to win Rally New Zealand by 17.5 seconds Sunday, doubling his lead over the Finn in the World Rally Championship.
2) The win was Loeb's 42nd in WRC rallies, his third in succession after victories in Finland and Germany and his second in New Zealand, where he was last successful in 2005.
3) He came into the rally with a four point lead over Hirvonen in the drivers' standings and has now moved eight points clear, with 86 points to Hirvonen's 78. His one-two finish with teammate Dani Sordo of Spain also tightened Citroen's grip on the manufacturers' championship.
4) Loeb's winning chances looked at an end when he spun on the opening stage of the day, as he entered the penultimate state 15.3 seconds off the lead, trailing Ford's Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala and Sordo.
5) The Frenchman was faced with having to make up half-a-second per kilometer, but circumstances soon turned in his favor around the dense coastal bush of the Whaanga Coast stage.
6) Latvala was first on the road and worked to sweep the road's thick gravel coating to improve traction for Hirvonen whose Ford Focus immediately followed his own. But he spun twice early in the stage, damaging his car too badly to continue. Then Hirvonen also spun and was forced to nurse his damaged car to the finish.
7) Loeb had some anxious moments on the slick corners of the stage but guided his car safely to the finish to take a commanding lead going into the final stage.
8) "This morning I had the spin and just wasn't able to make up the gap to Mikko. I thought it was over and we' lost the chance," Loeb said.
9) "But then it all changed and we were leading again. But this was really a difficult rally, changing all the time, with some strategy coming in too.
10) "I needed to win for sure and that's very nice but I'm not happy for what happened to Mikko because he was doing really well and it was a good battle. But okay, it's a race and these things happen sometimes."
11) There was nothing Hirvonen could do on the last stage, from third place and 41 seconds behind Loeb, to retrieve the lead he had held for much of the rally's three days.
12) "I was really confident before Whaanga Coast that we were going to win this rally but what could we do?" Hirvonen said.
13) "We had a slow puncture that dropped us to third.
14) "That's how it is now. I'm not going to let this knock my confidence. I know we can win rallies. The season isn't over yet so we just have to go flat out again on the next rallies."
15) The close finish was reminiscent of last year's New Zealand rally which was decided on the final stage and in which Loeb was beaten by 0.3 seconds by Marcus Gronholm -- the slimmest winning margin in WRC history.
16) Loeb declared before the Whaanga Coast stage that it was "impossible to get the victory". His chances had seemed to dissolve on the opening stage of the day when he spun, finished 12th and dropped 17.7 seconds off the lead.
17) "It was a long, long left and I went in the wrong camber," Loeb said.
18) "When I pushed, the car was spinning, spinning, spinning, and I couldn't stop it. I lost a lot of time."
19) Sordo ended the rally in second place, 17.5 seconds behind Loeb, while Hirvonen was third, 41.5 seconds down and Petter Solberg of Norway fourth in a Subaru.


Catalunya Rally Results
(APW_ENG_20081004.0445)
1) Leading results Saturday from the 18-stage Catalunya Rally, the 12th event in the World Championship:
2) After 12 special stages
3) 1. Sebastien Loeb, France, Citroen, 2 hours, 22 minutes, 57.2 seconds.
4) 2. Daniel Sordo, Spain, Citroen, 27.7 seconds behind.
5) 3. Francois Duval, Belgium, Ford, :51.4.
6) 4. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, Ford, 1:04.6.
7) 5. Petter Solberg, Norway, Subaru, 3:06.9.
8) 6. Urmo Aava, Estonia, Citroen, 3:08.3.
9) 7. Chris Atkinson, Australia, Subaru, 3:42.7.
10) 8. Jari-Matti Latvala, Finland, Ford, 3:46.1.
11) 9. Andreas Mikkelsen, Norway, Ford, 4:17.2.
12) 10. Matthew Wilson, Britain, Ford, 6:25.8.


Loeb wins 4th straight Catalunya Rally
(APW_ENG_20081005.0428)
1) Sebastien Loeb won his fourth straight Catalunya Rally on Sunday to move closer to securing a record fifth world championship.
2) The Frenchman, who has won nine of the 12 races this season, edged Citroen teammate Dani Sordo by 24.9 seconds to take the 18-stage rally in an overall time of 3 hours, 21 minutes, 17.4 seconds.
3) "It's been a very good rally for me -- almost perfect -- but it hasn't been easy," said Loeb, who recorded his 45th career victory. "I had to push hard to try to increase my lead over Dani Sordo on the first and second days. Today I was able to slow the speed a little, but I had to work to build the time early on."
4) Loeb extended his overall lead in the drivers' standings to 96 points, 12 better than Ford's Mikko Hirvonen. It was Loeb's 11th consecutive victory on asphalt, a surface on which the Frenchman hasn't lost in three years.
5) The Citroen double put the French team 27 points clear of Ford with 159 in the manufacturers' championship.
6) "To get the one-two result with Dani is a great achievement for the whole team," Loeb said.
7) Ford driver Francois Duval allowed Hirvonen to pass near the end of the six-stage race so that the Finnish driver could collect points for his title bid.
8) "It's helped me get one extra point and I have to thank Francois for that, he was a real team player," Hirvonen said. "Third was the best we could get here."


Loeb takes lead at Tour of Corsica
(APW_ENG_20081010.1362)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France swept all six stages on the first day of the Tour of Corsica on Friday.
2) The Citroen driver took a 32.3-second lead over Mikko Hirvonen into Saturday's second day. The Finn took over second place after Dani Sordo struck a wall in the third stage and broke the left-front suspension of his car. Ford driver Francois Duval is third.
3) "There's nothing much I could do," Hirvonen said. "I've had a good day, I'm happy with the car and my driving. It's just not enough to get him."
4) Sordo is expected to restart Saturday under course rules.
5) Loeb won the Catalunya Rally on Sunday to move closer to securing a record fifth world championship. He has won nine of 12 races this season, and leads the drivers' standings with 96 points -- 12 more than Hirvonen.


Loeb takes day 1 lead in Cyprus
(APW_ENG_20090313.0936)
1) Five-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb held a 41.8-second lead over Citroen teammate Dani Sordo after dominating the first six special stages of the Cyprus Rally on Friday.
2) The Frenchman, who is on track to win his third straight event of the season and a record 50th overall -- 20 more than his nearest rival -- had a total time of 1 hour, 37 minutes, 46.3 seconds.
3) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland was 1 minute, 0.2 seconds behind in third place in his Ford Focus RS.
4) Loeb, who won this event in 2004, '05 and '06, won five of the six special stages, with drivers tackling the asphalt portion of the mixed-surface rally and encountered plenty of trouble negotiating the twisty mountain tracks on gravel tires. Afternoon rain showers in the mountains made for even trickier driving.
5) "I was a bit too careful in the rain there because I didn't want to make a mistake," Loeb said. "Tomorrow, we have to clean the road, but if it's raining, it shouldn't be too bad. We'll try and continue like this."
6) The event has one day of asphalt competition followed by two days of driving on loose gravel, but regulations forced drivers to use gravel tires for all stages.
7) Hirvonen was frustrated with his performance during the morning stages.
8) "I didn't know how to drive," he said.
9) Henning Solberg had to drop out when his Ford collided with a pickup truck on the road section between the service park and the first special stage. Solberg's team said the driver was "99 percent sure" he would rejoin the event on Saturday, but he will have a 30-minute penalty for missing Friday's stages.
10) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland was 1:08.3 back in fourth place. Petter Solberg, the 2004 world rally champion from Norway, was fifth in a Citroen Xsara, 2:27.1 back.
11) The rally continues Saturday with five special stages across the southwestern Troodos mountain range.
12) The event consists of 14 special stages totaling 332 kilometers (206 miles) and ends Sunday.


Loeb extends Cyprus Rally lead
(APW_ENG_20090314.0518)
1) Five-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb edged closer to winning his third straight rally of the season Saturday after extending his lead in the Cyprus Rally over Mikko Hirvonen.
2) Loeb is 49.8 seconds ahead of Hirvonen and on track to notch a record 50th career rally win -- 20 more than his nearest rival.
3) Heading into the last three special stages, the Frenchman's total time was 3 hours, 33 minutes, 43.8 seconds.
4) Loeb's Citroen teammate, Dani Sordo of Spain, was 1:36 behind in third place.
5) Unlike the previous day's dominant form, Loeb got off to a cautious start Saturday, winning only one of five special stages as he contended with slippery, mud-laden mountain tracks in the morning and dry, dusty conditions in the afternoon when road clearing became a serious factor. Brake trouble also slowed Loeb down in the last two stages, with his car spinning and stalling the engine on a hairpin turn just shy of the finish.
6) "So, OK, two very difficult stages in the afternoon, we lost some time, but we're still in the lead and that's the most important thing for the moment," Loeb said.
7) Hirvonen broke Citroen's hold of the top two spots by knocking Sordo down to third place with a consistent performance in his Ford Focus that earned him a stage win.
8) "Hopefully I can keep this rhythm for tomorrow morning and put some pressure on Sebastien," said Hirvonen. "The gap is still very, very big so by driving alone I don't think I can catch him, but you never know."
9) But misfortune struck Hirvonen's Finnish compatriot and teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala, who, despite winning the opening stage, dropped out of contention after sliding his Ford Focus into a ditch on the following stage.
10) Latvala got back on the road with the help of spectators but lost 21 minutes to drop from fourth to 19th place.
11) "We have lost a lot of points and this is a big disaster for our challenge for the Manufacturers' Cup," Latvala said.
12) Petter Solberg, the 2004 world rally champion from Norway, outpaced the field in his Citroen Xsara to win the last two stages, lifting him to fourth place, 1:51.9 back.
13) Matthew Wilson of Britain moved up three spots to fifth place in his Ford Focus, 5:13.7 behind.


Loeb wins Cyprus Rally
(APW_ENG_20090315.0319)
1) Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb of France held off Mikko Hirvonen of Finland on Sunday to win the Cyprus Rally for his third straight victory of the season.
2) The five-time champion's 27.2-second win lifted his career victory tally to a record 50 races -- 20 more than his nearest rival.
3) Loeb covered the 14 special stages in 4 hours, 50 minutes, 34.7 seconds to move to 30 points in the overall standings, eight ahead of Hirvonen.
4) Daniel Sordo, Loeb's Spanish teammate with Citroen, remained third overall with 17 points after finishing fourth in Cyprus.
5) Muddy gravel tracks snaking across the Troodos mountain range again challenged drivers, as a cautious Loeb pushed his Citroen C4 hard enough in event's final three stages to protect a lead accumulated over the previous two days.
6) "It's incredible," Loeb said of his 50th win. "It's like a dream. I'm very happy with what I've achieved, but I'm not finished yet. Next, I'm going for 51."
7) Hirvonen tried hard to make up the difference on Loeb, driving his Ford Focus to wins in two of the three stages.
8) "If it was drier, the result might have been different, but that's how it is," said Hirvonen. "We were faster today, though, hopefully we can take that speed to Portugal."
9) Petter Solberg, the 2004 world rally champion from Norway, did well in his 2001-built Citroen Xsara to claim third place after leapfrogging Sordo in the event's next-to-last stage.
10) "I was so pleased with our stage win in Norway, but this is even more amazing," Solberg said. "I know this is an old car and maybe Citroen would like to finish ahead, but they should be proud about how good the Xsara still is."
11) Sebastien Ogier of France, who was in sixth place at the end of day two, retired with mechanical problems just short of the finish line.
12) Evgeny Novikov of Russia also retired when he went off the road and slid into a ditch during Sunday's first special stage. He had been in seventh place.
13) Matthew Wilson of Britain clinched fifth place in his Ford Focus by winning the final stage in the same time as Jari-Matti Latvalla of Finland.


Hirvonen leads by 15 seconds in Portugal Rally
(APW_ENG_20090403.1079)
1) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland took the lead in the Portugal Rally despite winning just one of six stages Friday.
2) The Ford driver, third overnight, won the fourth stage on the dry dirt roads of southern Portugal. He finished in an overall time of 1 hour, 24 minutes, 12.6 seconds, opening a 15-second advantage over Daniel Sordo of Spain after two days of the race.
3) World championship leader Sebastien Loeb of France was third, 18 seconds behind Hirvonen. Marcus Gronholm, racing for the first time since he retired in 2007, was almost 26 seconds back in fourth place.
4) Jari-Matti Latvalla set the early pace, winning the day's first two stages, but he hit a wall in the third to drop out of the race.
5) The race finishes Sunday.


Loeb wins Portugal Rally
(APW_ENG_20090405.0657)
1) Sebastien Loeb won the Portugal Rally on Sunday to extend his championship lead and maintain his perfect start to the season.
2) Loeb won two of Sunday's five stages to beat Ford's Mikko Hirvonen by 24.3 seconds. The Citroen driver earned his 51st career win after taking the 18-stage race with an overall winning time of 3 hours, 53 minutes, 13.1 seconds.
3) It was the Frenchman's fourth straight win since the start of the season, giving him 40 points and a 10-point lead over Hirvonen.
4) Citroen's Dani Sordo finished third, 1:45.4 back, and remains third in the standings with 23 points.
5) Petter Solberg of Citroen and Ford's Henning Solberg rounded out the top-five.


Sebastien Loeb in control of Rally Argentina
(APW_ENG_20090426.0042)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France drove his Citroen to nearly a minute lead in the Rally Argentina on Saturday and looked set to win his fifth straight race to start the world championship.
2) Loeb was 58.6 seconds ahead of teammate Dani Sordo of Spain, and 1 minute, 40 seconds in front of third-placed Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland through 18 stages.
3) Barring an unlikely mishap on the short final day Sunday, Loeb will continue his perfect start to the season after victories in Ireland, Norway, Cyprus and Portugal.
4) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland, second in the overall standings, was forced to retire on the third-to-last stage of the day after his Ford engine overheated just when he closed to within seven seconds of Loeb.
5) "It was really a good fight with Mikko, so I was disappointed when he went out because now the race is not the same," Loeb said.
6) "Also, when it comes to the championship, if we can finish like this then there will be a big gap -- so that's not so nice. Tomorrow the most important thing for me is to keep the car on the road. We have a big lead over Dani so we don't have to take big risks."
7) Starting 18.6 seconds and third behind first-day leader Sordo, Loeb was fastest through all four morning stages to grab a midday lead of 7.3 seconds ahead of Hirvonen.
8) Hirvonen won the first afternoon stage to cut a second off Loeb's lead, but then his engine overheated and he was forced to slow down to reach the finish of the 15th stage. He withdrew in the next stage as Loeb and Sordo maintained their 1-2 lead.


Hirvonen extends Acropolis Rally lead
(APW_ENG_20090613.0542)
1) Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen of Finland extended his lead Saturday on the second day of the Acropolis Rally after several of his rivals faltered in the rough terrain.
2) The most notable casualty was Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, the overall World Rally Championship standings leader, who crashed in the first stage of the day. Loeb was in third place overnight, 21.1 seconds behind Hirvonen.
3) Other contenders to have encountered setbacks are Dani Sordo of Citroen, Henning Solberg of Ford and Mads Ostberg of Subaru, all with broken suspensions, but who continue after dropping several places in the standings.
4) "It was my fault. It happened after I went around a high-speed right-hand corner, I was bit too sideways then hit a big stone with the left-hand front wheel and that sent the car into the air. The car rolled over five or six times," Loeb told reporters afterward.
5) "The car is destroyed. There's no chance to return tomorrow - the race is over. We are OK, that's the main thing," he added.
6) Hirvonen did not win any of the day's six stages, but was steady and avoided trouble.
7) "It is a perfect day. We made no mistakes, faced no problems and we have a big difference, but you never know."
8) If he hangs on to win the rally, Hirvonen will close to within seven points of Loeb, who won the first five races on the world circuit this year before finishing fourth in the Rally of Sardinia.
9) Sebastien Ogier of France in a Citroen trails Hirvonen in second place, 1 minute 40.1 seconds off the pace. Finn Jari-Matti Latvala recovered from a disastrous first day to win two stages and climb from 11th to 3rd place, 2 minutes 44.2 seconds behind Hirvonen. Evgeny Novikov of Russia, driving a Citroen, is in fourth place after winning three stages.
10) The Acropolis Rally ends Sunday.


Mikko Hirvonen of Finland wins Acropolis Rally
(APW_ENG_20090614.0375)
1) Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen of Finland won the Acropolis Rally on Sunday by avoiding the mishaps that hit his rivals.
2) Hirvonen finished in 4 hours, 9 minutes, 42.5 seconds to record his first win of the season, beating Citroen's Sebastien Ogier of France by 1 minute, 12.9 seconds. Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland took third in 4:11:27.5.
3) That allowed Hirvonen to close the gap to seven points behind World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Loeb of France. Loeb, who crashed Saturday but was unhurt, has 55 points after seven rounds. Hirvonen has 48. There are five more races.
4) "I drove cleverly; no punctures, no mistakes -- it was fantastic," Hirvonen said. "If you get through this difficult rally like this, you are the winner. We are back in the fight (for the championship)."
5) Hirvonen, who had an overnight lead of 1 minute 40.1 seconds from Citroen's Sebastien Ogier, finished between seventh and ninth place in all of Sunday's four stages.
6) Ogier hit a cow in Sunday's second -- and 14th overall -- stage, damaging his car's right front corner and crumpling the bonnet.
7) "There were three cows about two kilometers from the start and we hit one of them," Ogier said after the stage.
8) Latvala failed to take advantage of Ogier's mishap when his car had trouble starting in the same stage. However, Latvala was happy to finish third. He has 25 points to be fourth in the overall standings, six behind Citroen's Dani Sordo of Spain.
9) "It was a very good result, we scored points for the team," Latvala said. "We will have a better chance now in the championship."
10) Sordo, who broke his suspension Saturday, finished 12th.
11) Citroen's Evgeny Novikov had transmission problems Sunday and dropped from fourth place overnight to 16th.
12) The 16th stage -- the rally's penultimate -- was canceled because the large crowd gathered at its start posed safety problems.


Close race among World Rally Championship leaders
(APW_ENG_20090831.0298)
1) Rally Australia moves to a new part of the country -- the roads and forests of northern New South Wales state -- but two of the drivers at the top of the world championship standings after nine rounds are familiar faces.
2) Finland's Mikko Hirvonen has a three-point lead over five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb in a points race that looked for a while like it would be no contest.
3) Citroen driver Loeb, 35, appeared certain to take a sixth straight title after he won the first five legs of the 12-event Rally World Championship series. But the Frenchman has been outscored 38-15 over the last four events by Ford's Hirvonen, who won each of the last three rallies.
4) Only three rounds of the competition remain with all drivers heading into the unknown as they enter a region never before used for a WRC event. The last Rally Australia was held in 2006 around Perth in Western Australia state, 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) away.
5) Competitors in the rally beginning Thursday will face hard-packed gravel stages around the rural communities of Kyogle, Murwillumbah and Mullumbimby just south of the Queensland state border.
6) Hirvonen said there was no pressure on him going into the race.
7) "Well no, I'm the one who is leading, so I think it should be the (other) guys, who have the pressure," Hirvonven told Australian Associated Press on Monday.
8) "Obviously it's never going to be easy against Sebastien, but people were saying the same thing to me (before the event) in Finland, but I was really relaxed. I'm quite easy-going anyway. I just don't take any pressure."
9) Hirvonen said he had capitalized on some uncharacteristic errors by Loeb, but had also got more out of his own car in recent events.
10) "Sebastien started to make a few mistakes and we won the races, but we got up to speed as well, a bit, and a few small things with the car, I think, helped us to go a bit faster," Hirvonen said.
11) Loeb said he's ready to resume his duel with Hironven.
12) "For me, it was a very good start to the season, then I had a bad period where I lost a lot of points. Now we have to get in the fight again," Loeb said.
13) Australian organizers had to overcome a challenge by environmental groups last week. The Federal Court in Sydney dismissed a last-minute attempt to stop the rally, with the court hearing an application for an injunction by a local Tweed Shire lawmaker.
14) But the judge dismissed the injunction, ruling that organizers had complied with all environmental laws and regulations ahead of the inaugural international rally in the area.
15) Hirvonen has 68 points and Loeb 65. The final two rallies of the season will be Oct. 2-4 at Salou, Spain and the Rally Great Britain at Cardiff, Wales from Oct. 23-25.


Hirvonen, Loeb continue battle in Rally Australia
(APW_ENG_20090902.0240)
1) Win or lose, Finland's Mikko Hirvonen knows he needs to leave Australia with as many points as possible if he is to hold his lead in the World Rally Championship and maintain his challenge for Sebastien Loeb's title.
2) Ford driver Hirvonen leads Frenchman Loeb's Citroen by just three points -- 68-65 -- with three rounds remaining heading into Thursday's start of Rally Australia, run for the first time on the roads and through the forests on the far north coast of New South Wales state.
3) Spaniard Dani Sordo is a distant third on 44 points in the standings.
4) "It's a crucial rally for the championship," Hirvonen said. "I will try to win but if I can't, then I must score as many points as possible. Zero points and the title fight could be over for me this year."
5) Hirvonen has seized the initiative from Loeb in the 12-race championship, winning the past three rallies in Greece, Poland and his home round of Finland.
6) "I have a good record on new rallies, although I don't feel I do anything differently ... and I'll be happy if I can maintain that record," Hirvonen said.
7) Five-time world champion Loeb dominated the early part of the season, winning the first five rallies. But he has only picked up 15 points since then, including a second-place finish in Finland.
8) "Our goal is to win, or at least finish ahead of Mikko," Loeb, the 2004 Rally Australia winner, said of his weekend aspirations.
9) "As the situation stands, the way the championship finishes is in my hands," he said. "If I win the last three rallies, I will be the world champion. My mission will become somewhat more complex ... if Mikko beats me just once."
10) Drivers in the rally will face hard-packed gravel stages around the rural communities of Kyogle, Murwillumbah and Mullumbimby just south of the Queensland state border.
11) "This weekend's event promises to be extremely close because Mikko is particularly strong on fast gravel, especially when the stages are new to everyone," Loeb said. "The way recce (reconnoiter - scouting the course) goes will be vital, not only in terms of the precision of our pacenotes but also regarding the quality of the information we are able to provide the team in order to decide on the best set up for the start."
12) Hirvonen claimed his first WRC win in Australia in 2006, but the 29-year-old acknowledges that will count for nothing on new roads.
13) "This is a brand new rally so I don't know what to expect," he said. "The roads in the west (Western Australia) where I won in 2006 are different to those we will experience here. The tracks were covered in slippery marble-like stones, but I understand these roads are more traditional gravel, which should suit me."


Latvala leads protest-filled Rally Australia
(APW_ENG_20090904.0368)
1) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland took a 7.4-second lead Friday in Rally Australia after an opening day marred by protesters who pelted cars with rocks and attempted to block race routes in the World Rally Championship event.
2) Environmental activists forced the cancellation of two of 15 scheduled stages Friday which marked the international circuit's return to Australia after a three-year absence.
3) Latvala, driving a Ford Focus, won six stages. Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, in a Citroen, was in second place overall with a further five-second break to Finn Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford.
4) They were followed by the Citroens of Spaniard Dani Sordo and five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb.
5) There were two special stages remaining to be raced later Friday which were unlikely to change the leading drivers.
6) Hirvonen scored an early break over Loeb, who he leads by three points in the championship standings with two rallies to go after the Australian event.
7) Latvala won the opening stage Friday and finished no lower than third in the others.
8) "It's been surprisingly good," Latvala told Australian Associated Press. "Stage four was not so good for me when I hit a hole and made a little damage to one of the steering track rods so it bent about 15 or 20 degrees to the left.
9) "I would say I've been driving at 95 percent but I've been clean and tidy, that's been the key."
10) Hirvonen was driving with a look in the rearview mirror at Loeb, whose championship hopes will be improved if he finishes ahead of the French veteran.
11) "I am keeping my eye on Loeb," Hirvonen said. "It's interesting to see what the boys are doing. I am trying really hard and pushing as hard as I can."
12) Police, meanwhile, continued investigations into the protesters.
13) New South Wales state police said they had reports on Friday morning of boulders placed on the roadway near the Byrill Creek stage of the rally and officers from the riot squad were called in to remove them.
14) Police said that midmorning, the first car to drive along the stage -- Hirvonen -- was hit by a number of rocks.
15) "While the driver of the car was not injured in the incident, organizers of the rally stopped the stage due to concerns for the safety of the drivers and spectators," a police statement said.
16) The "No Rally" and Peacebus groups had staged a campaign leading up to Rally Australia, condemning the event for disrupting the environment in the hinterland site and frightening wildlife.
17) One local government official unsuccessfully attempted to get a court injunction last week to stop the rally, which is being held in this part of Australia for the first time. The last Rally Australia was held in 2006 in Western Australia state.
18) "Some people don't like us in front of their house but I didn't ask to come here. I can understand why some people don't like the rally but I have to do my job," Loeb said.


Rally Australia Results
(APW_ENG_20090906.0366)
1) Leading results Sunday after the final day of the three-day Rally Australia, 10th event on the World Rally Championship. Revised after a one-minute penalty was handed to Citroen drivers Sebastien Loeb, Dani Sodro and Sebastien Ogier for a technical infringement, resulting in Hirvonen being named the winner.
2) 1. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, Ford, 2 hours, 53 minutes, 6.5 seconds.
3) 2. Sebastien Loeb, France, Citroen, 47.5 seconds behind.
4) 3. Dani Sordo, Spain, Citroen, 1:04.6.
5) 4. Jari-Matti Latvala, Finland, Ford, 1:52.0.
6) 5. Sebastien Ogier, France, Citroen, +2:23.3.
7) 6. Matthew Wilson, Britain, Ford, +5:38.8s.
8) 7. Henning Solberg, Norway, Ford, +7:30.3s.
9) 8. Federico Villagra, Argentina, Ford +7:51.9s.
10) 9. Hayden Paddon, New Zealand, Mitsubishi, 15:48.6.
11) 10. Martin Prokop, Czech Republic, Mitsubishi, 15:57.2.


Loeb penalty hands Rally Australia win to Hirvonen
(APW_ENG_20090906.0368)
1) Mikko Hirvonen extended his World Rally Championship lead Sunday after being declared the winner of Sunday's Rally Australia when Sebastien Loeb was demoted to second place after incurring a penalty.
2) Five-time world champion Loeb was stripped of his victory because his Citroen team was given a one-minute penalty for a technical infringement.
3) Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier, who also drive Citroens, were likewise given one-minute penalties. Although Sordo remained in third place, Ogier ended up fifth. Ford's Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala moved up to fourth place.
4) Stewards found an irregularity in the Citroen C4s' anti-roll bars, which did not conform to FIA technical configurations.
5) The decision enabled Hirvonen to claim his fourth victory of the season and extend his lead over Loeb in the drivers' championship to five points with only the Spanish and British rounds remaining.
6) Loeb, who initially won the rally by 12.5 seconds, has not triumphed since Argentina in April. Hirvonen, meanwhile, is on course to become the first driver to deny the Frenchman a world championship title since Petter Solberg won in 2003.


Loeb wins Wales Rally to capture 6th world title
(APW_ENG_20091025.0454)
1) Sebastien Loeb captured his sixth world title on Sunday by winning the Wales Rally, the final race of the season.
2) Although Mikko Hirvonen led by one point going into the race, the Frenchman finished the season one point ahead of the Finn after opening up a big lead on Friday in his Citroen and going into the final day 30 seconds in front. Hirvonen, driving a Ford Focus, finished second on the day, 1 minute and six seconds behind.
3) In the standings, Loeb finished with 93 points, Hirvonen had 92 and Dani Sordo of Spain, at the wheel of a Citroen, was third with 64.
4) "It's been an incredible season," Loeb said after his seventh victory in 12 races this year and 54th overall. "We made a good start (to the season) then we lost everything and we came here one point behind Mikko. Finally we've done it and I'm really happy but Mikko has been extremely strong. I know it will be tough next year for sure.
5) "This has been one of my best title wins; the battle was so intense - going almost until the end of the last rally. It was incredible. We have had some highs and some lows this year but we finished with the victory. It's an incredible feeling."
6) Hirvonen's slim chance of catching Loeb virtually ended on the next to last stage when his hood flew up after a pin broke.
7) "Well, the bonnet pin was the last of our problems but I really lost the rally yesterday when I couldn't find the speed on those two stages," Hirvonen said.
8) "Now I need to go back to work and find more speed for next year. It was definitely the best year I've ever had, though. We're really close now to his speed and that feels good. It's been a great year, but of course a big disappointment at the end."


Latvala leads after first day of Jordan Rally
(APW_ENG_20100401.0777)
1) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland powered into the lead on the first day of the Jordan Rally.
2) Latvala won three of the day's seven stages in the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship to take a commanding 30.2-second advantage into day two.
3) The Ford driver finished Thursday in a total time of one hour, 11 minutes, 31.5 seconds, with Citroen's Sebastien Ogier in second place.
4) Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb of France struggled in the opening six stages but won the seventh -- Mount Nebo 2 -- to go third overall in 1:12:03.3.
5) "I tried to push on in the last stage to get some time back, but I was relying on what the others did to determine my starting position for Friday," Loeb said.
6) Norway's Petter Solberg and Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, the winner of the Jordan Rally in 2008, completed the top five.
7) Poland's Michal Kosciuszko led the FIA Super 2000 WRC in his Skoda Fabia S2000 until the final stage, when his demise left Bernardo Sousa's Ford Fiesta S2000 in front.
8) Sweden's Patrik Flodin was the early pacesetter in the FIA Production World Rally Championship after a battle with Martin Semerad and defending champion Armindo Araujo.
9) Thursday's route took in seven special stages over around 96 kilometers that most drivers labeled as "very slippery."
10) Friday crews will tackle six special stages and a total of 138.28 kilometers, but two of those runs are through the harsh 41.45km Jordan River stage.


Loeb cruises to victory at Jordan Rally
(APW_ENG_20100403.0271)
1) Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb of France cruised to victory in the Jordan Rally on Saturday, securing his second win of the season.
2) The Citroen driver finished the three-day event in 3 hours, 51 minutes, 35.9 seconds in his C4 -- 35.8 seconds ahead of second-place Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland in a Ford Focus.
3) Citroen privateer Petter Solberg finished third, 1 minute 11 seconds behind Loeb in another Citroen C4.
4) "It has been a great weekend, it's a very difficult rally, very hard and very fast, and there were a lot of stones," Loeb said.
5) "I was happy to finish with this rally now -- it was a good fight," he said. "I am really happy to be here."
6) Latvala said he was happy to have kept up with Loeb. "We couldn't try for the victory but finishing second is good for me, it's a good result," Latvala said. "It definitely boosted my confidence now so maybe we can be more of a challenge for Loeb."
7) Dani Sordo of Spain and Matthew Wilson of Britain completed the top five.
8) Six-time world champion Loeb leads the standings with 68 points, 25 ahead of Latvala and 31 more than Mikko Hirvonen of Finland. The Citroen Total team leads the team standings with 101 points, BP Ford Abu Dhabi is second on 87 and Citroen Junior is in third with 48.
9) The fourth round of the World Rally Championship starts in Turkey on April 16.


Loeb takes lead on day 2 of Rally of Turkey
(APW_ENG_20100417.0548)
1) Sebastien Loeb of France took the lead on day two of the Turkish Rally by winning three of Saturday's eight stages.
2) Loeb rose from fifth place to finish the day in his Citroen 16.2 seconds ahead of Norway's Petter Solberg. Mikko Hirvonen of Finland was a further 1.1 seconds back in third.
3) Loeb hit the front in the sixth stage when the Citroen of first-day leader Sebastien Ogier of France blew a tire. Loeb won the Jordan Rally earlier this month.
4) Dani Sordo of Spain, Ogier and former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen were next Saturday.
5) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland hit a bank and crashed his Ford Focus into a ditch during the first level, Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency said.
6) "We could not get out of the car because the roof and the door were smashed in, but the spectators helped us get the car back on track," Anatolia quoted Latvala as saying.
7) The accident cost the two-time World Rally Championships winner nine minutes to drop to 12th position from sixth.
8) The Rally of Turkey, the fourth event of the FIA World Rally Championship, ends Sunday.
9) Turkey returned to the WRC calendar after a year's absence but the event was moved to Istanbul after having previously been staged on the mountainous tracks near the country's Mediterranean coast.
10) The fifth round will be held in New Zealand next month.


Loeb charges into second in New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20100508.0141)
1) World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Loeb of France won six of eight stages on day two of the Rally of New Zealand, rising from seventh place to second on Saturday, 5.3 seconds behind Citroen teammate Sebastien Ogier.
2) Six-times world champion Loeb started the day 1 minute, 19.8 seconds off the lead held by Norway's Petter Solberg and had trailed by more than 1 minute, 40 seconds after crashing on the fourth of nine stages Friday.
3) He steadily made up ground on the last five stages on the opening day and continued a remarkable charge through the field Saturday, winning the day's first three stages. Loeb was positioned to win his fourth straight round of this year's world championship and claim the Rally New Zealand title for the third time.
4) "I think it was my greatest rally day," Loeb said. "It was incredible. We drove flat out everywhere in every stage.
5) "I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I should get in the points."
6) Loeb won the day's first stage by 4.1 seconds from Ogier, the second by 6.1 seconds from his compatriot and teammate and the third by a remarkable 22 seconds, moving within 38.5 seconds of the overall lead.
7) He was narrowly second behind Ogier in the fourth, super special stage then won the fifth stage by 10.4 seconds to move to third place, 28.3 seconds off the lead.
8) "I'm pushing as hard as I can," Loeb said. "I'm trying hard to make up for yesterday."
9) Loeb moved to second behind Ogier when he won the sixth stage by 8.7 seconds and cut more deeply into Ogier's lead when he was fastest by 14.5 seconds on the day's seventh stage. He came in only 0.2 seconds behind Ogier on the day's final, 4.8km, super special stage to move within challenging distance of the lead with four stages remaining on the last day Sunday.
10) Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala, driving a Ford, was third and 33.2 seconds from the leader. Overnight leader Solberg, in a privateer Citroen campaign, dropped back to fifth at the end of the second day, 53.6 seconds behind Ogier.
11) Ogier thought it would be difficult to hold off the hard-charging Loeb on Sunday.
12) "I've had a good rally for the moment, but it's still a long way to go," he said. "It will be hard to conserve the lead, but I will do my best."
13) Loeb seemed to have lost all chance to win the rally Friday when he took a right hand bend too fast and slewed sideways into a railway bridge. He was narrowly prevented from rolling down a steep embankment onto railway tracks and sparked a small scrub fire when he restarted his engine.


Latvala wins Rally of New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20100509.0057)
1) Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala, driving a Ford Focus, came from behind on the final stage to win the Rally of New Zealand on Sunday, edging overnight leader Sebastien Ogier of France by 2.4 seconds.
2) World championship leader Sebastien Loeb of France continued an astonishing comeback to lead the rally after the first of four stages on the final day but swiped a bank on the next stage and finished third, 15.2 seconds behind Latvala.
3) The error ended Loeb's run of three straight rally wins, though he retained overall lead in the world drivers' championship, 36 points ahead of Latvala.
4) The Rally of New Zealand is the fifth round of the world championship.
5) Loeb had dropped 1 minute, 40 seconds off the rally lead after crashing into a railway bridge on the fourth of nine stages on day one, but launched a stunning fightback to lie second and only 5.3 seconds off Ogier's lead at the end of the second day.
6) He was fourth-fastest behind stage winner Mikko Hirvonen on Sunday's opening stage but that was enough to lift him into the overall lead, 4.5 seconds ahead of Ogier, and to raise the possibility of his fourth-straight win in this year's championship.
7) Loeb slid off the road on the final day during the second stage -- one of the world championship's most famous stages along the scenic Whaanga Coast in the north of New Zealand's North Island.
8) The error saw Loeb slip back to fourth place, 21.7 seconds behind Ogier, and though he again made up time in the last two stages he was unable to pull off his third win in New Zealand.
9) Ogier, driving a Citroen, was poised for his first victory in a WRC rally when he led by 6.2 seconds starting the last of the rally's 21 stages, a second 29-kilometer (18-mile) run along the Whaanga Coast. He carried his lead within three corners of the stage finished when he spun off, allowing the hard-charging Latvala to grab the lead for the third win of his WRC career.
10) "I really went fast and towards the end I was almost off the road myself," Latvala said.
11) "I thought it was going to be too little but at the end it was enough. We were a little bit lucky but it feels really good."
12) Latvala's winning margin of 2.4 seconds was the second smallest in WRC rallies in the past decade -- behind Marcus Gronholm's 0.3 second win over Loeb in New Zealand in 2007. Latvala's win also made Ford the most successful manufacturer in WRC history.
13) "It was so close," Ogier said. "I did a spin three corners before the end. It's a big shame."
14) Norway's Petter Solberg, who led the rally after the first day but dropped to fifth, 53.6 seconds from Ogier's lead after the second, charged back into the third place after three stages Sunday, then crashed out of contention on the final stage. Solberg's Citroen left the road and struck an electricity pylon. Both he and co-driver Phil Mills were uninjured.
15) Spain's Dani Sordo was fastest on the final stage -- 0.5 seconds ahead of Latvala -- while Ogier was fifth fastest, 9.1 seconds behind the stage-winner and 8.6 seconds slower than Latvala.
16) Loeb was left to regret the mistake Sunday which cost him his chance of extending his winning streak.
17) "I started to understeer on the gravel and I lost the car," he said. "I hit some bushes with the rear and put the front in and then I hit a tree. The main problem was I was there for maybe 30 seconds."


Norway ' s Petter Solberg wins first stage
(APW_ENG_20100729.0681)
1) Norway's Petter Solberg has taken the first stage of the Rally Finland ahead of Finland's Mikko Hirvonen and six-time world champion Sebastien Loeb of France.
2) Solberg, the 2003 world champion, covered an uphill stretch of 4.19 kilometers, on both asphalt and gravel, in two minutes, 33.2 seconds, one second ahead of Hirvonen and 1.6 faster than Loeb, who tied with Jati Latvala of Finland.
3) They were followed by Norway's Henning Solberg, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier and Spain's Daniel Sordo.
4) Citroen driver Loeb leads the championship standings on 151 points, ahead of second-place Ogier on 100.
5) The drivers will negotiate a total of 310 kilometers on the famously fast gravel roads in three days.


Latvala leads Finnish rally going into last day
(APW_ENG_20100730.0732)
1) Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland held a 9.1-second lead Friday over Norway's Petter Solberg in the Rally Finland going into the final day.
2) Latvala took over the lead from Solberg on the seventh stage, after front-runner Mikko Hirvonen of Finland suffered a spectacular crash on the fourth leg.
3) Hirvonen held a 5-second lead when he crashed at a speed of 140 kph (87 mph), rolling his car five times but escaping unhurt.
4) "The dream is over and it's just disappointing, but at least we were on the pace before it happened," said Hirvonen, Latvala's teammate at Ford.
5) Defending world champion and overall leader Sebastian Loeb is fourth behind Citroen teammate and fellow Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, 32 seconds behind Latvala.
6) Behind the leaders, former Finnish great Juha Kankkunen -- a four-time rally world champion who is making a one-race comeback -- was more than three minutes back in seventh place. The 51-year-old Kankkunen was 7.5 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, the Finnish former Formula One champion who is competing in his first season on the rally circuit.
7) The rally, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, ends with another eight stages on Saturday.


Rally Japan Results
(APW_ENG_20100912.0167)
1) Results Sunday from the Rally Japan, part of the World Rally Championship (with driver, country, car and time):
2) After 26 stages
3) 1. Sebastien Ogier, France, Citroen, 3 hours, 10 minutes, 26.4 seconds.
4) 2. Petter Solberg, Norway, Citroen, 15.7 seconds behind.
5) 3. Jari-Matti Latvala, Finland, Ford, :26.0.
6) 4. Daniel Sordo, Spain, Citroen, :35.2.
7) 5. Sebastien Loeb, France, Citroen, :53.3.
8) 6. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, Ford, 1:13.5.
9) 7. Henning Solberg, Norway, Ford, 3:03.1.
10) 8. Federico Villagra, Argentina, Ford, 10:17.9.
11) 9. Jari Ketomaa, Finland, Ford, 14:47.1.
12) 10. Martin Prokop, Czech Republic, Mitsubishi, 15:20.8.


Loeb wins 7th straight rally world title
(APW_ENG_20101003.0389)
1) Sebastien Loeb clinched a record seventh straight world championship title after winning the Rally of France on Sunday.
2) The Citroen driver has an insurmountable lead in the overall standings with two rallies remaining this season.
3) "This is the best thing that ever happened to me in my sporting life," Loeb said after sealing his win on a stage in his Haguenau hometown. "I could never have imagined racing here and winning."
4) The Rally of France was held on the island of Corsica for 35 years before moving to the Alsace region in northeastern France this year.
5) "It's unbelievable to become world champion at home, in front of all those people," said Loeb, who claimed a record career 60th rally win and now has three more world titles than Finnish drivers Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Makinen.
6) On treacherous and muddy roads, Loeb dominated from the start and finished 35.7 seconds ahead of his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo.
7) Loeb's hopes of winning the title were boosted on Saturday after Sebastien Ogier, his closest rival in the standings, broke his suspension and lost 10 minutes.
8) Sunday's penultimate special stage was canceled for safety reasons after fans packed along the roadside.
9) "This is fantastic," Loeb said. "I didn't expect so many people to be here."
10) Citroen also has an insurmountable lead in the manufacturers' championship and won the title for a sixth consecutive year.
11) "Sebastien was in imperious form and won the title for the seventh straight time, and we won it six times in a row, this is crazy," said Citroen Sport boss Olivier Quesnel.
12) Petter Solberg of Norway finished third in his private Citroen, 1:16.8 back while Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen were fourth and fifth respectively.
13) "This third place is good for the championship and I think I will be dangerous in Spain," Solberg said.
14) Loeb leads with 226 points, 60 ahead of Ogier with 166. Latvala is third with 144 and Solberg has 133.
15) The Rally of Spain will be held from Oct. 22-24 before the last race of the season next month in Wales.


Loeb still leads Solberg by 4.8s in Wales Rally GB
(APW_ENG_20101113.0760)
1) Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg continued to wrestle for the lead in the Wales Rally GB on Saturday, with Loeb finishing the second day still in front by 4.8 seconds.
2) Solberg grabbed a thin lead in his Citroen through the first two stages of the day, but the Norwegian lost it on the Four Ways Crychan stage on military land because of the mud brought onto the 11 kilometers of asphalt by Loeb.
3) The Frenchman upheld his lead in his Citroen through the last forest stage on gravel.
4) Mikko Hirvonen of Finland was third in his Ford, 88 seconds behind, but moved up only after Sebastien Ogier rolled off the road and out of the last race of the world championship.