WRC Rally Driving Champ's Out of Luck
Sebastien Loeb’s twice fatal accidents had turned the WRC battle to another level. Him and his arch rival Mikko Hirvonen had so far managed to have one retirement each for 2009 championship, with Mikko currently leads a mere one point over Seb (58 vs 57 points); where as their number two drivers D. Sordo and JM. Latvala has wide gap of 14 points (39 vs 25) as Sordo leads.
Despite of his recent out of luck Seb had still shown his perfect rally driving ability by winning the most stages in Poland, he won 5 out of 18 stages. From time to time since his championship debut Seb could outperform any other driver under severe competition pressure, a legacy which resembles the
legendary seven-time Formula One world drivers' champion Michael Schumacher (Who incidentally returning for Massa’s replacement temporarily ).
A testimony of his rally driving championship has been impeccable as the WRC champion ever since 2004 to 2008 by winning most of events more than any other champions, next to Tommi Mäkinen world’s record in WRC history. Scarcely though the champ has admitted to be running of luck, in fact since WRC round 1 his impeccable rally driving has been rewarding as ever. No one would have thought of him to miss the beat; but during the last round of Portugal he did admit to be in bad luck!
Finnish Drivers in Luck!
WRC Rally Driving: Round #9 Finland was started off by the charging Citroën team, top 6 places at SS1 was overwhelmingly Citroën in lead. But this year event seemed to favour to the duo Finnish drivers of Ford; it was their turn for the luck to be on their sides! Seb was having a puncture on the second leg allowing Mikko to cruise extending his lead by 30.2 seconds.
Over the event Seb further accumulated 7 SS wins, yet was beaten off by Mikko’s 10 stages win where as the remaining 6 stages were swept away by Ford second driver Jarri. The two Finnish drivers were literary at home delighting their Finish rally fans. As Jarri gained his lost confidences through successive of “silly mistakes” he relinquished his usual pace to be behind Daniel Sordo at 4th place by the end of leg one. He deliberately started off cautiously as he did not finish the last two rounds in his home event in 2007 as well as 2008, and to add to the insult he failed to finish at Rally of Poland within hundreds meter to the finishing line at the last super stage. Despite of his fever on day two Jarri struggled and finally managed Daniel behind him; moving into 3rd rank the position which he later maintained for the event.
Meanwhile the number one Ford driver Mikko was delighted to earn his 29th birthday gift by leading Seb to 7.1 seconds, stating the feat as a significant improvement over his 14 seconds behind Seb last year at the end of leg one. Mikko practically dominated the event as he maintained his lead consistently from stage 2 to the finishing line at SS-23 to the delights of Finnish rally fans and certainly Malcolm Wilson.
Rally fans are waiting anxiously to the next Australian event for further Ford vs Citroën battle as the latter leads manufacturing title by 14 points while Mikko extends the championship to 3 points over Seb (68 vs 65 points); where as their number two drivers D. Sordo and JM. Latvala has 13 points of gap (44 vs 31).
Next Article; Volvo the Classic “Swedish Brick”
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