Sebastien Loeb has claimed his 76th victory in the FIA World Rally Championship by winning RallyRACC-Rally de Espana for the eighth time.
Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, Loeb beat Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala with Mikko Hirvonen making it two Citroens on the podium in third place.
The Salou-based round marks Loeb’s final appearance as a full-time driver in the WRC before he begins preparations for a new career in the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2014.
SS18: Sordo wins stage, Loeb wins rally
Dani Sordo has brought the curtain down on the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season by winning the final stage of RallyRACC-Rally de Espana.
The Spanish ace’s stage best by 0.1s was his fourth of the day in his Prodrive-run MINI. He said: “It’s really a nice end of the rally. We make a mistake on the first day then we had a small problem with the car. But we have been fighting for the best times, which is very good and I am happy to finish the year like this.”
Jari-Matti Latvala ended his career as a factory Ford driver by going second fastest. The Finn, who will switch to Volkswagen Motorsport from next year, was 2.1s quicker than Sebastien Loeb, who claimed his 76th WRC victory for Citroen by 7.0s.
Thierry Neuville and Evgeny Novikov shared the third fastest time, 1.4s down on Sordo, with Mikko Hirvonen fifth quickest and Loeb sixth. Hirvonen’s performance means he pips Mads Ostberg to the final podium spot. Ostberg was eighth quickest to finish in fourth overall.
An emotional Craig Breen secured the Super 2000 World Rally Championship five months since his co-driver Gareth Roberts lost his life in a crash on a rally in Sicily. Meanwhile, Benito Guerra clinched the Production Car World Rally Championship title.
| Pos. | # | Driver | Time | Diff / Prev | Diff / 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | 4:14:29.1 | ||
| 2. | 3 | J. LATVALA | 4:14:36.1 | +7.0 | +7.0 |
| 3. | 2 | M. HIRVONEN | 4:16:15.9 | +1:39.8 | +1:46.8 |
| 4. | 10 | M. ØSTBERG | 4:16:25.5 | +9.6 | +1:56.4 |
| 5. | 23 | J. NIKARA | 4:30:37.0 | +14:11.5 | +16:07.9 |
| 6. | 32 | C. BREEN | 4:32:39.5 | +2:02.5 | +18:10.4 |
| 7. | 12 | C. ATKINSON | 4:33:43.8 | +1:04.3 | +19:14.7 |
| 8. | 33 | P. ANDERSSON | 4:34:45.2 | +1:01.4 | +20:16.1 |
| 9. | 37 | D. SORDO | 4:40:09.7 | +5:24.5 | +25:40.6 |
| 10. | 22 | E. NOVIKOV | 4:40:15.7 | +6.0 | +25:46.6 |
| 11. | 4 | P. SOLBERG | 4:40:34.7 | +19.0 | +26:05.6 |
| 12. | 8 | T. NEUVILLE | 4:40:52.8 | +18.1 | +26:23.7 |
| 13. | 21 | M. PROKOP | 4:41:18.5 | +25.7 | +26:49.4 |
| 14. | 24 | A. ALKUWARI | 4:45:05.9 | +3:47.4 | +30:36.8 |
| 15. | 36 | Y. AL RAJHI | 4:45:13.6 | +7.7 | +30:44.5 |
| 16. | 9 | D. OLIVEIRA | 4:45:51.3 | +37.7 | +31:22.2 |
| 17. | 34 | A. FISHER | 4:46:08.8 | +17.5 | +31:39.7 |
| 18. | 138 | B. GUERRA | 4:47:54.5 | +1:45.7 | +33:25.4 |
| 19. | 63 | E. GARCIA-OJEDA | 4:49:53.8 | +1:59.3 | +35:24.7 |
| 20. | 31 | H. PADDON | 4:51:06.6 | +1:12.8 | +36:37.5 |