Frenchman Sebastien Loeb won the Norwegian Rally in a Citroen on Sunday, extending his world championship lead with his second victory in two races this season.
Loeb finished in a time of 3 hours, 28 seconds, 9.8 quicker than Finn Mikko Hirvonen of Ford whose teammate and compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala came third.
The win kept Loeb, seeking his sixth successive world title, on top of the standings with a perfect 20 points from two races.
The Citroen driver had entered the final day holding a handy 15-second lead over the Ford of Hirvonen but the Finn set about reducing Loeb’s lead from the off and after four of the day’s six stages the lead had narrowed to 8.2 seconds, Hirvonen taking 6.4 seconds out of his rival on the second run through the Valer stage.
Hirvonen then further trimmed the gap on the penultimate stage to leave him just 7.7 seconds behind the five-time world champion.
But Loeb retained his composure and emerged the quicker of the two men through the final stage in Budor to end the rally with a 9.8-second advantage and claim his 49th WRC career victory.
“It was a marvellous rally and it is always really more exciting when you win after an intense battle like that,” said Loeb, who won the season-opener in Ireland.
“It was very difficult, mentally as well, because Mikko drove superbly.
“I had to attack from start to finish, I am really happy because it was a real challenge for me, on the snow,” added Loeb.
“I’m sad we came second but I?m glad it’s finished. It was a close fight but it didn?t go well for me all the way through,” said Hirvonen.
“I don’t have any regrets about deliberately dropping time on Friday, it was only one or two seconds and that wouldn’t be enough to make a difference.
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