Loeb takes dominant Jordan win

Latvala and Solberg on the podium

Sebastien Loeb has notched up his first Jordan Rally win after a dominant performance on the final day of the third round of the World Rally Championship.

The 36-year-old Frenchman was fastest on four of Saturday’s eight special stages in his Citroen C4 WRC to take his second victory of the 2010 season and extend his advantage at the top of the drivers’ classification to 25 points over Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, who finished second.

“It’s been a good rally for us and with a 31-point lead over [archrival] Mikko Hirvonen it means it has been a good start to the season,” said Loeb. “I really had to go flat-out because Jari-Matti was going very fast and made me push to the limit all of the time.”

Commenting on the tactics employed by the Citroen and Ford teams to influence the road position order during the rally, Loeb added: “Tactics are part of the game and it’s down to the teams to do what they want with it. I am just the driver.”

Latvala, who is celebrating his 25th birthday today, was the leading Ford Focus runner home in second place after an error-free performance. He had started the day 27.7 seconds adrift of Loeb in third overall but moved into second place when Sebastien Ogier incurred a 50-second time penalty for leaving first service late when the Citroen Junior Team said his C4 refused to start.

“I am quite pleased with second but also a little disappointed we didn’t have the pace to compete with Sebastien,” said Latvala. “What has happened with the tactics on this event is now history.”

Petter Solberg, the 2003 world champion, landed his second podium of the year with a strong showing in his privately-run Citroen. The Norwegian reached mid-morning service with his car missing its front bumper but he was at a loss to explain where it had become detached. He also complained of a bout of understeer on the opening stage of the day.

Dani Sordo achieved his aim of reaching the finish unscathed following his crash in Mexico last time out. He took fourth overall to claim more points for Citroen in its quest for the manufacturers’ championship.

Matthew Wilson landed his best result of the season so far with fifth place in his Stobart M-Sport Focus. The event marked his co-driver Scott Martin’s 50th start at world championship level.

Ogier started the day in second overall but ran first on the road after being instructed by his team to check in early at the start of the first stage to clear the road of loose surface gravel and help Citroen team leader Loeb. The eight-minute time penalty he picked up meant he could finish no better than sixth, which was poor reward after another strong performance.

Behind Federico Villagra in seventh, ex-Formula One star Kimi Raikkonen bagged his first WRC points of his career in eighth.

Henning Solberg and Super 2000 World Rally Championship category winner Xevi Pons took the final points in ninth and tenth places.

Despite heavy rain in the month before the rally, the weather remained hot and dry throughout with ambient temperatures approaching 40 degrees centigrade.