In a last of its kind, the Sebastien vs Sebastien [ Loeb .vs. Ogier ] that is definitely going into the books of World Rally Championship ...
This will be his the last official outing of the nine-timer World Rally Champion driver is competing for himself and for us! For all the fans of WRC, & Loeb, this is the last and final chance to witness the clash of the titans. Ogier will be clinching the title [for sure!?] here, and Loeb may win the event, only time can tell us this historical event.
Citroen Racing also went on an extra-mile to design a special livery for Loeb's ride, and insert all his achievement with bold numbers to commemorate their legendary driver's contribution. Loeb's will be the last of the cars that will start today evening, in the rally's opening [Power-Stage, for a change!] stage. His team-mate and another asphalt expert, Dani Sordo finished quickest through the Shakedown.
Belgian & Qatar M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver, Thierry Neuville really wants to stop Sebastien Ogier to claim his title right at the opening and point-scoring, Power-Stage. Although his intention is clear to keep the WRC title contention alive as long as possible, it may be quite impossible as Polo WRC driver just needs a single point to claim it.
A good strategy [as it seems strongly to me] by the organisers to allow both the Seb's to enjoy their lime-light, by Ogier taking it tonight with his 1 point deficit title, and later in the weekend to the retiring Loeb. Let us see what happens in a short while from now!
The Making of New World Rally CHAMPIONS!
Volkswagen Polo R driver Sebastien Ogier & his co-driver Julien Ingrassia are the 'New World Rally Champions' of WRC's 2013 season.
After SS1 Strasbourg, [PowerStage] Results are as below
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 10 | D. SORDO | 3:20.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 2. | 11 | T. NEUVILLE | 3:21.5 | +0.7 | +0.7 | |
| 3. | 8 | S. OGIER | 3:21.6 | +0.1 | +0.8 | |
| 4. | 2 | M. HIRVONEN | 3:22.2 | +0.6 | +1.4 | |
| 5. | 9 | A. MIKKELSEN | 3:22.3 | +0.1 | +1.5 | |
| 6. | 7 | J. LATVALA | 3:23.4 | +1.1 | +2.6 | |
| 7. | 1 | S. LOEB | 3:23.7 | +0.3 | +2.9 | |
| 8. | 5 | E. NOVIKOV | 3:24.5 | +0.8 | +3.7 | |
| 9. | 21 | M. PROKOP | 3:27.1 | +2.6 | +6.3 | |
| 10. | 74 | R. KUBICA | 3:28.2 | +1.1 | +7.4 |
Leg 1
City of Hagenau woke up to the early rumble of World Rally cars, to witness day 2 of the event starting early with the first car getting through the opening stage [SS2 - Klevener 1, 10.66] at 09:18 [local time]. Sebastien Ogier lead the rally starting first, till Tomas Kostka, being the last of the 12 WRC spec cars.
In WRC-2 class, Robert Kubica lead his breed of cars behind the top level competition, and also kept his lead till the end of day. Jose Antonio Suarez was pretty quick in Junior WRC class, but crashed out early today, and Yerey Lemes took the lead. Sebastien Chardonnet lead the WRC-3 category, while also went on to out-perform some WRC-2 cars in the rally, but at the end of the day - Quentin Gilbert was the leader in the category.
The day's repetition of morning's stages witnessed some dampness, and it meant the right choice did the favour to the quickest drivers. Atleast, it can be named for the reason of the Belgian driver to take the top spot on the scoreboard. Loeb slipped to 4th overall, while Dani & Latvala marked 2nd and 3rd respectively. Sebastien Ogier is not far from the top 4, and sits under half a minute to reach the top rank.
Overall top 5, after SS7.
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 11 | T. NEUVILLE | 1:08:56.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 2. | 10 | D. SORDO | 1:09:06.4 | +9.8 | +9.8 | |
| 3. | 7 | J. LATVALA | 1:09:08.3 | +1.9 | +11.8 | |
| 4. | 1 | S. LOEB | 1:09:08.7 | +0.4 | +12.2 | |
| 5. | 8 | S. OGIER | 1:09:25.2 | +16.5 | +28.7 |
Day 3 opens tomorrow at 09:23 [local time] with SS8 Hohlandsbourg - Firstplan 1, one of the longest with 28.48 km of the day. Will the Belgian extends, or Loeb will strike back, or something else differently?
Leg 2
Second day at Rally France was totally action packed, with close calls, punctures, spins and much more over some foggy, & some drenched roads. In simple words, it was a fun rally to watch the whole time and with it being live on the internet - was definitely fantastic.
Early stages of the day opened to cold, foggy and wet stages, making the stages difficult for the crew to tackle. Overnight rally leader, Thierry Neuville struggled to keep the lead, and was mostly successful, although he was challenged stage after stage, all-through the first loop of the day's major stages.
Sebastien Ogier was fastest through SS8 & SS9 by over a second to Neuville, it was Sebastien Loeb who took the stage win of SS10 and here the Belgian struggled to a fifth fastest finish. The stage win also added the 900th stage win to Loeb's career line.
A remote service for the cars and a munch break for the crews, by mid-day it was enough to let the fog to clear away, but not for dampness. Most of the sections of the repitition of the morning's stages were either damp or under the umbrella of moderately pouring rainy clouds. As most of the cars were setup for the soft-compound tyres - well suited for damp conditions, did even out the pressure.
It proved to be a unlucky stage for the rally leader, as the Fiesta suffered a left-rear puncture and he eventually lost the lead and any chance of a prospective podium position with a huge time-lag of over a minute to the new top 4. His loss enabled the quickly trailing Dani Sordo to the lead, though the Finn - Jari-Matti Latvala was not quick enough, even after being immediately behind the young Belgian. It was Ogier who was quickest in SS11 & SS12.
By the end of the day, top 4 cars are separated by a miniscule 5 second, and the final day tomorrow is going to be an absolute fun & never miss to all the rally fans across the globe. And if definitely looks like it is going to be Seb.vs.Seb. tomorrow, with a Spaniard & Finn to add the flavour.
Top 5 Overall - After SS14
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 7 | J. LATVALA | 2:18:58.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 2. | 10 | D. SORDO | 2:18:58.7 | +0.4 | +0.4 | |
| 3. | 8 | S. OGIER | 2:18:59.8 | +1.9 | +1.5 | |
| 4. | 1 | S. LOEB | 2:19:03.3 | +3.5 | +5.0 | |
| 5. | 11 | T. NEUVILLE | 2:20:08.7 | +1:05.4 | +1:10.4 |
In WRC-2, Robert Kubica has a unchallenged leadership, with Elfyn Evans & Rashid Al-Ketbi, finishing in top 3. Q. Gilbert continues to lead WRC-3.
Junior-WRC rally finished with the day's stages & Pontus Tidemand won the event, and with it the Junior World Rally Championship too, with more than 130 points to it. He was in the second place until SS10, and when the rally leader Yerey Lemes - who also suffered a puncture in SS11 and thus promoted Tidemand to the lead.
Final Day
With the rush of thoughts running through my confused mind, due to the outcome of an eventual day, today, as it enters into the books of history - which marks a monumental milestone in the rallying motorsport history, it is getting both, hard to believe and difficult to digest! It was supposed to be 'the day' of Sebastien Loeb, but the result was not really we all had expected. It was the younger Sebastien, Ogier who took the rally victory.
The day rise to wet countryside and roads soaked with a never-ending rain, and it was Seb.Loeb who ended up turning turtle in the very first stage, SS15 Vignoble de Cleebourg 1 [14.6km]. He crashed out over a long-tightening-right-hand-curve, to finally loose the car off the road into a ditch before landing on the Citroen DS3's roof. The dramatic exit did have one effect basically, to take out a worrying pressure off the other three podium contenders.
Ogier quickly grabbed the opportunity to claim the stage victory, and also took the overnight overall lead, off a slender margin of 1.5s, from his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who finished 14.5 seconds down the new leader and to overall 3rd. But the overall position of Dani Sordo remained unchanged, who was second quickest.
For the remainder of the rally, Ogier managed his position well enough not to loose his now advantageous spot, so did the other two podium contenders.
Robert Kubica won the WRC-2 category with a huge margin over Elfyn Evans, what could we expect from the pole on a sealed surface rally! Gilbert closed on the WRC-3 class.
With a heavy heart, we bid goodbye to the fantastic-duo who never stopped to please us with their performance behind the wheels of Citroen world rally cars.
Thank you Sebastien Loeb & Daniel Elena!
You both are fantastic!
Full Event Video!
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