Rally of Great Britain : Rallye Deutschland – the World Rally Championship hots up!

Rallye Deutschland – the World Rally Championship hots up!

2006 Wales Rally GB

Les Kolczak

22 November 2007, 10:19 am

The outcome of this weekend’s Rallye Deutschland could set up a grandstand finale on the final round of the Championship, Wales Rally GB. Starting out with a 13-point disadvantage on Marcus Grönholm, Sébastien Loeb won his sixth consecutive German victory, closing the gap on the Championship leader.

François Duval gave a great performance, taking second place. A crash in the last stage stopped Marcus Grönholm from taking any podium position, but his bad luck allowed team mate Mikko Hirvonen to take the third step on the podium.

With just six rounds to go, the indications are that Wales Rally GB will be a struggle of titanic proportions for the spoils of victory and British fans could well see the finale of the World Rally Championship decided on home turf.

Final positions

1	S Loeb/D Elena	F	Citroen C4	3hr 27min 27.5sec
2	F Duval/P Pivato	B	Citroen Xsara	3hr 27min 47.8sec
3	M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen	FIN	Ford Focus RS	3hr 28min 46.6sec
4	M Grönholm/T Rautiainen	FIN	Ford Focus RS	3hr 29min 04.0sec
5	Kopecky/F Schovanek	CZ	Skoda Fabia	3hr 30min 34.6sec
6	P Solberg/P Mills	N	Subaru Impreza	3hr 30min 42.2sec
7	T Gardemeister/J Honkanen	FIN	Mitsubishi Lancer	3hr 31min 05.0sec
8	J-M Latvala/M Anttila	FIN	Ford Focus RS	3hr 32min 56.8sec
9	M Wilson/M Orr	GB	Ford Focus RS	3hr 38min 31.7sec
10	G Wilks/P Pugh	GB	Ford Focus RS	3hr 47min 15.3sec

Sebastien Loeb has won Rallye Monte-Carlo for a sixth time following a dominant performance behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with Monegasque co-driver Daniel Elena.

Of the 74 starters who began Wales Rally GB in Llandudno on Thursday 10th November, 40 were classified at the end of the four-day,1860 kms rally which featured 23 timed special stages as it wound its way from the North coast to the ceremonial finish in Cardiff.

As this year's Wales Rally GB - the final and deciding round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship - draws to a close, Business Minister, Edwina Hart has announced a funding package of £1.4 million for the 2012 event.