Stage 3 – Gronholm powerless… Loeb wins again

Sébastien Loeb achieved another victory on asphalt at the Tour de Corse for the Rallye de France. The homegrown French driver finished ahead of Markus Gronholm and his teammate Dani Sordo. He is now only 4 points behind the Finnish driver in the championship standings.

Holding a comfortable lead at the start of this final day, Sébastien Loeb easily managed the last 112 kilometers of stages: “I keep an eye on Marcus’s split times and adjust my pace to match his.” A task the world champion has mastered perfectly. He thus finishes the rally with a 23”7 lead over Marcus Grönholm.

The Ford driver secured his second place: « It was a very difficult rally. I really fought for two days but calmed things down today. During stage 13, I was surprised by Dani Sordo’s splits but when I realized he must have made a mistake, I eased the pace. » This second position aligns perfectly with his goal in Corsica: « I am satisfied with this result, which allows me to lose only two points to Loeb in the Drivers’ Championship. » Indeed, the Finnish driver’s lead is now four points with three events remaining (Japan, Ireland, and Great Britain).

Dani Sordo would have liked to get between the two championship protagonists, but he couldn’t do anything about it: « Maybe if I had had this setup on Friday, I could have fought with Marcus. » The Spanish driver, the winner of three of the day’s four stages, climbs to the third step of a podium identical to last year.

The fourth place gave rise to a magnificent battle between Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg. The Ford driver managed to fend off the Norwegian’s attacks, thus achieving a remarkable performance: “I drove as fast as I could without taking risks. Or at least not too much. It’s the most beautiful rally of my career!” Victim of a puncture during special stage 15, Petter Solberg had to concede. He finished fifth ahead of his teammate Chris Atkinson (who had a puncture in the sixteenth stage), Jan Kopecky, and Xevi Pons, delayed by two punctures in stages 13 and 14.

For his debut in Corsica, Henning Solberg brings his Ford to an honorable ninth place: « I am happy to have been able to drive here without making an error over the three days of racing ». He is ahead of Dani Sola, who performed excellently in tenth place for his first outing behind the wheel of the Peugeot 207 S2000. He benefits from the retirement of Matthew Wilson’s Ford Focus, which suffered a transmission failure in the 15th stage.

See the standings after Stage 3