2010 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP - RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND - 22.08.2010
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena claimed a record-breaking eighth consecutive win in Rallye Deutschland today. The Citroën crew led from the start to claim victory by 51.3 seconds over team-mates Dani Sordo and Diego Vallejo. Rounding off the perfect weekend, the French manufacturer also took third position with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, the pair driving a third Citroën C4 World Rally Car.
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, maximum points for Loeb see him extend his advantage and the Frenchman now has a 58 point lead over Ogier. Fourth position in Germany was enough for Jari-Matti Latvala to maintain third in the series. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën continues to head Ford with an 86 point advantage.
Today’s route was the shortest and took the crews back to the vineyards of the Mosel for two loops of two identical stages before returning to Trier for the closing super special stage through the streets of the town. Loeb started the day with a 35.7 second advantage and gradually extended it with two stage victories. Both Sordo and Ogier were too far adrift to challenge, although Ogier was forced to maintain the pace with Latvala less than 20 seconds behind.
Petter Solberg finished fifth, after losing time on the opening day and then with clutch problems in the final stage. Matthew Wilson and Kimi Raikkonen battled for sixth, the Britain claiming the position by just 3.8 seconds. The only retirements of the day were Mikko Hirvonen and Ken Block. The Finn restarted under SupeRally regulations this morning but was forced out with a broken gearbox, while Block retired on the first road section with a broken alternator.