Victory in Portugal this weekend went to Citroën Sport s Sébastien Loeb, his Monaco-born codriver Daniel Elena and the C4 WRC, while Dani Sordo and his right-hand man Marc Martí took their C4 WRC to 3rd place.
For its return to the World Rally Championship scene after an absence of five years, the 2007 Rally de Portugal lived every bit up to its former legend, despite its switch to new territory at the southern tip of the country. The Algarve region s stages turned out to be extremely selective and, although essentially smooth, featured numerous pitfalls that both Citroën Sport succeeded in steering clear of. And as if the tests weren t challenging enough in the dry, the picture was complicated further still when rain moved in over the region on Saturday morning, although this change in the weather failed to catch Citroën Sport by surprise since it had been accurately predicted by Météo France, one of the team s technical partners this year.
This year s Rally de Portugal will be remembered as one of the most thrilling of the event s history thanks to the breathtaking clash between Sébastien Loeb and Marcus Grönholm that kept the large, perfectly-behaved crowds on their toes.
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