MOTOR SPORT/RALLY IRELAND:IT WAS over so quickly, its passing was hardly noticed. One moment there was the fury of the early morning departure as rally car engines growled and howled in the early light of yesterday morning and the next, it seemed, Sebastien Loeb was celebrating in Donegal town and being hailed a two-time Rally Ireland champion.
It was as if the sunshine that finally arrived in the northwest after two days of torrential rain was the cue for a light morning promenade before a nice glass of champagne and a spot of lunch for the Citroen driver.
That may be underplaying the Frenchman’s achievement, but Loeb’s Rally Ireland victory yesterday was that comfortable, at least in terms of beating his rivals. A relaxed one minute and 28 seconds ahead of team-mate Dani Sordo and a very healthy two minutes clear of Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen Loeb strolled through yesterday five short stages in total control.
Loeb even had time yesterday to allow Hirvonen to go fastest on four of the five stages and indulge in a late bit of scare-mongering when he made a mistake on the penultimate stage and slid his Citroen for 60 metres before regaining control and heading for victory in Donegal.
“It’s been a really tough rally but I’m very happy to take the 10 points,” Loeb said after the final 1.5km stage.
“Tarmac rallies are especially important to me. This one has been tricky for everyone, but now we’re here at the finish with maximum points. It’s a good start to the season.”
Indeed, on this second running of Rally Ireland the story was not about Loeb’s struggle against his competitors. They were, this time, far too easy prey. This weekend was all about Loeb against the elements.
After taking the lead midway through Friday, it was only ever going to be the biblical rain that beat Loeb. But as others cursed the undriveable conditions – Ford’s Abu Dhabi-born driver Khalid Al Qassimi wondering simply “how can it rain so much?” – Loeb, despite erring on day one tyre choice, just got his head down and upped his pace.
Many rivals had opted for the “snow” tyre Pirelli had brought just in case conditions were truly terrible. Loeb chose otherwise and as Friday’s stages began it looked like the first round of the season might see a shock outcome.
But that was without factoring in Loeb’s uncanny ability to feed himself into an event, to adapt, survive and eventually prosper.
Eamonn Boland ended the rally as the highest placed Irish competitor, the Subaru driver finishing just over a minute adrift of Ford works driver Al-Qassimi.
Gareth MacHale had run in the points before a variety of dramas on Saturday and Niall McShea had held an impressive third place overall after stage one on Friday before electrical problems sidelined him for the rest of the day. He rejoined but crashed out on Saturday.
Up front though Loeb was imperious, almost. The Frenchman breezed through yesterday’s first three stages, allowing Hirvonen to take the laurels. On stage 18, the Donegal Bay tour, though, Loeb almost threw it all away, running wide and nearly going off road completely.
“I went wide again!” said Loeb at the finish control. “This stage was incredible – very narrow and very different from the stages in the morning. It was so slippery, the back went wide and we stayed sideways for about 60 metres. We kept going though, and didn’t lose much time because I was fairly slow in the stage anyway. It’s okay.” And so it was.
The final stage through Donegal town was almost showbiz, a chance for Loeb to bask in the opening victory of his fifth WRC title defence.
Afterwards, Hirvonen, perhaps Loeb’s main rival this season said: “Norway is next and I can’t wait, it’s definitely going to be a different story there.”
On the evidence of Loeb’s performance here, especially on the “snow” tyre, the script may not differ that much.
1 Sebastien Loeb (right)/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 2h 48m 25.7s
2 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4 WRC) 2h 49m 53.6s
3 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus WRC) 2h 50m 33.5s
4 Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (Ford Focus WRC) 2h 54m 58.1s
5 Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot (Citroen C4 WRC) 2h 56m 17.6s
6 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroen C4 WRC) 2h 59m 09.7s
7 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Ford Focus WRC) 2h 59m 49.5s
8 Khalid al Qassimi/Michael Orr (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 02m 33.6s
9 Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3h 03m 49.1s
10 Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 04m 01.1s
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