Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb clinched the 50th WRC victory of his incredible career in Cyprus as Petter Solberg and Matthew Wilson also caught the eye.
“It’s incredible!” he exclaimed. “I remember when I beat the records of Carlos (Sainz) and then Colin (McRae). It wasn’t so long ago, and now we’re on 50.”
“50 is really a big number,” he continued, quickly and confidently adding that he fully intends to add more to his victory list: “The next one is 51,” he grinned.
Mikko Hirvonen reached second place overall at the conclusion of this difficult and muddy rally. “We lost it on Friday,” he said, referring to the time lost during the opening day’s asphalt stages before the rally moved onto the muddy gravel. “If it was drier the result might have been different, but that’s how it is,” he stated.
Taking a dream result of third overall, Petter Solberg crossed the finish line, disembarked from his own team’s car and immediately requested confirmation of the result. Upon receiving it, he jumped onto his Citroen Xsara and yelled for joy with the crowd cheering on. “I am so happy,” he gushed. “This is just amazing!”
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“I was so pleased with our stage win in Norway, but this is even more amazing,” Solberg elaborated. “We’ve only got 11 people in our team and they’ve all worked unbelievably hard to get us here,” he added, citing 38-hour days to get things in place.
The five-times world champion started the final special stage on the rally just 26 seconds in front of Hirvonen who had produced the top times in the first two specials of the day clawing back six seconds and then a further 17 seconds on the Frenchman’s lead.
But that was as close as he got as Loeb used all his experience to hold on to first place making it three wins out of three rallies this year - Ireland, Norway and Cyprus.
Loeb leads the World Rally Championship drivers standings with the maximum 30 points from three races.
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