Habitual Speeder

So, the WRC has just finished its first event of the 2007 season. The winner? Sebastien Loeb in the new Citroen C4.

Victory for Loeb, Elena and Citroen!

The Super Special finale around the streets on Monaco on un-studded snow tyres was a fitting end to the first round of the 2007 World Rally Championship with another large crowd on hand. With limited grip on the tarmac of Monte Carlo, each driver were very busy behind the wheel as the cars slid around from staring points on the Grand Prix start-finish straight and by the swimming pool.

The outcome for the top three positions in the rally was never in doubt and Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena duly took the overall victory in the new Citroen C4 from Dani Sordo and Marc Marti in the sister C4. Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen finished in third position in the Ford Focus WRC. The victory, Loeb was naturally delighted with his perfect start to the season.

“Our fourth in Monte Carlo so a great moment and I like to start the season like this with ten points,” said the unruffled Frenchman who won by a margin of 38.2 seconds. “A good start to the season and hopefully we'll be able to continue.”

Sordo stalled on the start of his head-to-head with Loeb, but it mattered little as he had the second position in the bag ahead of Gronholm by large margin.

The battle over fourth position between the Focus of Mikko Hirvonen and the Subaru Impreza of Chris Atkinson was however nicely paused for the showdown with just 0.8s between the two rivals heading into stage 15. Hirvonen was the first of the due on track and he put in a very solid 1:50.9s to take what would be third fastest overall. However, Hirvonen was forced to sit and wait on his rival to make his run commenting: “Small mistake, so we will see and there is nothing I can do anymore.”

Atkinson was next up in his Subaru and he put in a very clean and fast stage setting a time of 1:49.9s and with that one second advantage, therefore took fourth position overall in Rally Monte Carlo by a margin of 0.2s. “We tried out hardest and really focused on that,” said the delighted Subaru driver. “To come out on top is very satisfying. I can't wait for the rest of the year now.”
With Atkinson splitting the two Ford drivers, Petter Solberg took fifth position in the second Subaru and even managed some elegant donuts for the fans mid-stage well aware that his position in the rally was safe.

Toni Gardemeister finished seventh overall in his Mitsubishi Lancer, a satisfying result considering the lack of pre-season running. The final point went to Jan Kopecky in the Skoda Fabia and he put on a great show for the fans running closer than to the unforgiving concrete and Armco walls that lined the circuit. Kopecky described the experience as ‘a dream – a dream to drive Monaco – exceptional'.

The teams pack up and get ready for the expected snow of the Swedish Rally which take place 9-11 February.

Article, here: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Habitual Speeder

Nobody watched this?

Well, if like me, you can't see any coverage on TV, then here's a site where you can download it:

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

monster

Thanks mate, here in australia we don't get live coverage, and to make it worse they show bits of the rally at random times, even though Aussie Chris Atkinson was doing relatively well in WRC. I followed him when he was still rallying in the Aust rally championship, but now since dam channel 10 only show bits of it on TV, i haven't been really following it anymore.

Audi4Life

man..i wish Group B was back.

Habitual Speeder

No worries, dude.

Well, at least, you get "bits." Here in Canada (and, presumably, the States), we get nothing.

Tycoon

Wow! How come i didn't know this site exists?

HS, thanks, man. Much appreciated.

Habitual Speeder

No problem. I didn't know it existed until last week...

Habitual Speeder

Fellas, let me know what you think of the final super special stage in Monaco (when you download the coverage)...I thought it was cool.

Tycoon

Downloading the day 2 and 3 right now, will watch it this evening and i'll let ya know tomorrow...

C.Charles

I watched it, was an alright rally. I was exciting down to the last stage with Ako and Mikko. I am a Mikko and Marcus supporter myself. This season I am not going to miss a single rally. I just hate that the new C4 is so damn dominant so far... Come on BP Ford! LIFT YOUR GAME!!!!