Image: 

The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena claimed their fourth victory in Rally Italia Sardegna today. The crew outpaced their rivals and finished 11.2 seconds ahead of the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team pairing of Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen, with Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson coming home in third position, their first podium of the season.

In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Loeb extends his lead and heads Hirvonen by seven points. Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala are third and fourth respectively. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën also heads the leaderboard with a 17 point advantage over Ford.

The final day of competition in Sardinia covered just four stages and 65.58 competitive kilometres concluding with the Power Stage, in which additional points are awarded to the fastest three drivers through this single stage. Hirvonen took honours in the stage, claiming an additional three points, while Latvala and Loeb took more points for finishing second and third respectively.

Loeb started the day with a 20.2 second lead and was never seriously challenged throughout the final day. Behind him, the battle for second position raged, until Sébastien Ogier dropped back to fourth after hitting a rock and breaking the rear suspension in SS17. As a consequence, Solberg climbed to third leaving Ogier to take fourth. Mads Østberg claimed fifth with Dani Sordo taking points in the debut competitive outing of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. Ott Tänak took seventh, also claiming victory in the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship.

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head to the Americas for round six of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Argentina (26-29 May).

Rally Italia Sardegna – Final Results

1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena - Citroën DS3 WRC - 3 hr 45 min 40.9sec
2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 3 hr 45 min 52.1sec
3. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson - Citroën DS3 WRC - 3 hr 46 min 04.7sec
4. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia - Citroën DS3 WRC - 3 hr 47 min 12.4sec
5. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson - Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 3 hr 48 min 23.5sec
6. Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio - MINI Cooper WRC - 3 hr 49 min 08.5sec
7. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk - Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 3 hr 52 min 51.8sec
8. Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula - Skoda Fabia S2000 - 3 hr 53 min 18.5sec
9. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin - Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 3 hr 53 min 41.3sec
10. Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek - Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 3 hr 57 min 09.1sec

END