Loeb wins easily Down Under
Sebastien Loeb got his world championship defence back on track with a comfortable victory in Rally New Zealand.
The Citroen driver’s championship hopes were hit by mechanical problems in Sweden and Mexico but he bounced back in style to take maximum points in New Zealand.
Loeb won by 49.8 seconds from Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm after leading from the first morning and he was delighted to move within a point of championship leader Petter Solberg.
He said: “It’s very nice to win here in New Zealand after our frustrating outings in Sweden and Mexico.
“It shows that we were simply down on luck on those two rallies. I am particularly pleased with this weekend’s result because we won in a straight fight with Marcus and Petter.
“Also, winning on this terrain – which tended to be a little difficult for us in previous years – is a positive sign on two accounts.
“First of all, it proves that the Xsara continues to progress and, secondly, the fact that we are now competitive on fast gravel means we can hope for a top result in Finland.”
Gronholm won four stages on the final day but his main challenge came in defending second place, not pushing Loeb ahead.
He successfully saw off Solberg’s challenge, pushing the Subaru driver into third place but was disappointed to see Loeb win so easily.
“Before the rally started I thought I could win, but this turned out not to be possible,” he said. “The combination of Sebastien and Citroen was too fast to catch.
“In any case, I am reasonably happy to finish second. I had a big fight with Petter, but I was quite confident I could keep him behind me.
“I am happy with the reliability of the car. We have had two good finishes in a row and that gives me a lot of confidence.
“I am a little bit disappointed not to take the win, but generally speaking I am satisfied with our performance.”
Francois Duval claimed his first points of the season with fourth for Citroen, one place ahead of former Ford team-mate Markko Martin, now driving for Peugeot.
Ford’s Toni Gardemeister took sixth place with Australian rookie Chris Atkinson seventh for Subaru and Gianluigi Galli eighth in a Mitsubishi.
Manxman Mark Higgins’ run to points in the production class was ended when his Subaru suffered terminal mechanical problems on stage 20. Manchester’s Natalie Barratt took 11th in class as Xavier Pons won.
Darlington’s Guy Wilks finished down in 28th for Suzuki after suffering troubles yesterday.
