The final day of Rally Sardinia started off as a thriller, but ended with pure joy. After a real fight with Sebastien Loeb on the Sunday stages, Petter made it to the podium and Loeb ended 4th. Petter started the day with 2,2 seconds lead on Loeb, and had a 2,3 seconds lead after the morning loop of stages. - This is proper rally, you know, Petter said when he arrived in the servicepark for the midday service. To be able to fight and push for good times in this way, this is what rally really is about. I have enjoyed every second of it.
On the final three stages, the battle kept on, but Loeb finally managed to pass Petter on the overall classification. - We can push real hard when the temperature is not so high, but when we came back after service, it was a lot warmer on the stages and we lost a lot of power and were not able to push as hard as we wanted to. But I can promise you, we were constantly on the limit, chasing for seconds.
When leaving the servicepark for the official finish ceremony in Porto Cervo, we were told by the stewards that Loeb got two minutes penalty with regard to his puncture on Saturday. After Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena had changed the tyre, inboard camera shows that Daniel Elena didn’t fasten his seat belt, according to the regulation.
- Rally Sardinia has been a good event for me and for the whole team. We have been fast many times, and today’s third makes up for the one we lost in Argentina. Too bad for Loeb, but there is nothing I can do about that.
Jari Matti Latvala won Rally Sardinia, with his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen on second place. Next event is the Acropolis Rally in Greece, 12 – 14 June.
Overall classification, Rally Sardinia 2009
1. Jari Matti Latvala, Ford
2. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +29,4
3. Petter, Citroen +1.57,6
4. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +3.43,7
5. Evgeny Novikov, Citroen +5.11,8
6. Matthew Wilson, Ford +7.29,3
7. Mads Østberg, Subaru +13.20,6
8. Henning, Ford +13.21,2
Read the rest of this entry »
