Sebastian Loeb
By David C. Schilke - Motorsport.com It was another tarmac event and another win for Sebastien Loeb at Rally Catalunya. His fourth victory in Spain the Frenchman can't seem to do any worse on the harder surface. Teammate Dani Sordo finished second, the third consecutive one-two finish for the Citroen team. Mikko Hirvonen was the highest Focus in third after Francois Duval slowed down to give the position to the Finn for maximum points, Duval took fourth for himself. The World Rally Championship title fight has moved even more in Loeb's favor. He is now 12 points ahead of Hirvonen with three events to go. Next weekend the teams head to France for Tour de Corse, another tarmac event. The way things have been for a full year one could expect Loeb to be on the top podium for his home rally. "It won't surprise anyone to learn that I am delighted with this win," said Loeb. "The Riudecanyes and Santa Marina stages we contested today were quite similar to those of the first two days, but the Serra d'Almos test was different from the others. It was narrow, the asphalt was in a fairly poor state and it was quite bumpy. We took special care not to pick up a puncture, just as we did all weekend, and that was one of the main concerns on this rally. In order to make the most of our Pirelli Pzero WRC Hard tyres, I had to adapt the way I drove to manage their rate of wear. But we didn't make any mistakes and our C4 WRC performed impeccably from start to finish, and that has taken us a step loser to both world titles, although there's still a long way to go..."
Dani Sordo
In fact, the C4 has been impeccable since returning from the summer break. First beating the Finns on their home soil, the Citroen team has gone on to claim each event, usually with Sordo coming in second. Their efforts have boosted the team 27 points ahead of Ford in the Manufacturers' Championship. Beyond a doubt Sordo has become quite the rally ace himself, the Spaniard was thrilled to take second in front of his home crowd."This is our third consecutive silver medal on our home round and the third time we have contributed to a one-two finish here for Citroen. I would obviously love to win this event one day, but I am happy with today's outcome," said Sordo. "It was a superb weekend for us, and there was much less corner-cutting this time round compared with previous years. We profited from Friday's run to make some set-up changes to adapt the car to our tyres and I then fell into a quick but safe rhythm which enabled us to defend second spot. Our C4 was awesomely competitive all the way to the finish and monopolising the top two positions today is a great reward for everyone in the team. It has enabled Citroen to close in on the title and we will do all we can to reproduce the same result in Ajaccio next weekend!"
For the first half of the event Mikko Hirvonen was frustrated to find himself in fourth. The Finn was attacking each turn but couldn't make up time on the leaders. Constant changes to the setup gave him mixed results. Then, after midday service for leg two, the Flying Finn realized his aggressive driving was the problem. Hirvonen went back on the road and smoothed out his approach. A stage win was his reward. The Finn went on to take three more on the final day, boosting him into third overall.
Coming into the third leg Hirvonen was still behind Duval. The Belgium came to the BP-Ford team as their secret weapon on tarmac but he knew the points battle was between Hirvonen and Loeb. Duval took it easy on the final stages to let his teammate by, a sporting move as a way of thanks for the ride from the Ford team.
"This wasn't how I wanted to take a podium and I really have to thank Francois," admitted Hirvonen. "He was a true team player and helped me to score an extra point. Winning the drivers' championship will be very difficult now but it isn't out of the question so I will keep trying. I finally found a good rhythm yesterday afternoon and I've learned a lot about driving on this surface this weekend."
Duval is looking forward to the next event, which like Loeb is very close to home, "This was a good weekend for me and I'm happy to be back in the Ford team. I made no mistakes and suffered no punctures and this has given me real confidence for next weekend's rally in Corsica. This isn't my favourite asphalt event because the surface is too pure and too smooth, like driving on a motorway at times. However, I found a good set-up for my Focus, my pace was consistent and I enjoyed the tougher and more slippery roads yesterday."
The usual second BP-Ford driver, Jari-Matti Latvala took a seat with his old team Stobart M-Sport while Duval occupied his. The young Finn echoes the same difficulty learning on pavement that Hirvonen did when he was second to Marcus Gronholm. This weekend Latvala was able to finish in the points at sixth place after Urmo Aava retired. He was sandwiched between the two Subarus of Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson. Latvala just edged out Atkinson by the day's end. The Finn will stay with Stobart for France while Duval keeps his experience with the primary Ford team.
Mikko Hirvonen
"This rally started off quite frustrating for me but actually, when I look back, it was positive and we found a good setting, said Latvala. "The setting we found on Saturday is working and the first stage we had today was great -- I can say it was one of my best stages on Tarmac this year. Now the car setup is right I have the confidence to push some more so from that point of view it has been very productive. Also I'm pleased to have scored some more points for my old team Stobart and hopefully I can repeat this next week in Corsica."Both Subaru drivers helped shape the tarmac setup in the new car. With their weekend concluded in the hard surface the pair is ready to bring what they learned to the next event. Solberg was consistent in fifth for the whole rally, while Atkinson swapped places with Latvala for much of the event. The Aussie finished seventh, running out of road before he could chase the Ford driver down.
"For sure it's been a tough rally for us, and fifth place is fifth place but it's good to be a little way up there" said Solberg. "The car actually felt a little better in the last two stages after I made some changes, so it's the right direction but we still have more to do. Now we have Corsica straight after to continue this work."
Team Ford Munchis race report
Munchi's sail through Spanish stages
A trouble free RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de Espana has seen both crews in the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team finish inside the top-12 on this 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud topped the team's time sheets finishing the event in 11th position while Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc finished one place back in 12th on just their second ever asphalt event. Rally Catalunya was the first and only Tarmac round of the Munchi's Ford WRT's 10 event 2008 campaign and while both drivers finished just outside the points the team still maintains its two point advantage over Suzuki in the Manufacturers' Championship.
Munchi's sail through Spanish stages
A trouble free RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de Espana has seen both crews in the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team finish inside the top-12 on this 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud topped the team's time sheets finishing the event in 11th position while Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc finished one place back in 12th on just their second ever asphalt event. Rally Catalunya was the first and only Tarmac round of the Munchi's Ford WRT's 10 event 2008 campaign and while both drivers finished just outside the points the team still maintains its two point advantage over Suzuki in the Manufacturers' Championship.
Solberg began cautiously on Friday morning as he experimented with the setup of his Munchi's Ford Focus RS WRC07 to try and find the correct balance and subsequent pace on the sealed surface.
The Norwegian's search for speed paid off by Sunday's stages as he began to set more competitive times and secured his 11th position after a weekend long battle with team-mate Villagra. Despite not posting any driver points Solberg still remains seventh in the WRC drivers' classification.
Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc
Villagra had a positive Rally Catalunya on just his second ever Tarmac round in the World Championship. Driving for the first time on the Pirelli PZero asphalt tyre it was a steep learning curve for the Argentine who adapted both well and quickly as he continues to gain maximum experience of top-level Tarmac rallying. The only issue for 'Coyote' was, in places, a lack of rhythm between his driving and the pacenotes made during recce earlier this week. With the high-speed, racing-circuit-like nature of the Spanish stages, pacenote precision is a key ingredient in finding the confidence to go flat out on these roads.The event ran an identical layout on all three days with a repeat loop of three stages broken up by a midday service. Saturday played host to the longest stage of the event when crews passed over the monster 38.27 kilometre El Priorat/La Ribera d'Ebre test.
Rally Catalunya was seen as another successful event with tens of thousands flocking to Costa Daurada creating the perfect atmosphere for this fast-paced, action-packed asphalt event based in the tourist town of Salou. The next event for the Munchi's Ford squad is the team's final round of the year and sees Solberg again join the side for Rally Japan next month.
Munchi's Ford World Rally Team Driver Henning Solberg said:
"I came here knowing I had to drive to the conditions and learn as much as possible and that's what I did. We are not able to push from the start as I need to have a good feeling with the car and with no tarmac testing before the rally, this was always going to take some time. We found a really positive diff setting on Saturday which let me settle down and concentrate on perfecting my driving style. But it's difficult here with all the cuts and gravel on the stages so it's important not to get carried away. With Corsica just a few days away we needed to keep the car undamaged and the setting we have should hopefully work in Corsica and help us to be faster from the start of the rally. I have also been doing some work on my pacenotes here to help me with faster lines on Tarmac."
Munchi's Ford World Rally Team Driver Federico Villagra said:
"I don't have much experience on this surface so the rally was always going to be a big learning experience for me. The test before the event was a huge benefit and we got some good information from there. But we stuck to the game plan, which was to try and get to the finish with no problems, and this was definitely the correct decision. We changed the rear anti-roll bar on Saturday and that helped a lot in making the car more stable and precise as one of the problems we had early in the rally was some understeer. This has been a good event and a positive experience for me and we know a lot more about this rally and the conditions."
-credit: munchis
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