: : Rally Deutschland, day 3: 6 in a row for Loeb in Germany : :
 

Sèbastien Loeb takes for the sixth consecutive time the Rally Deutschland

Six in a row! Sèbastien Loeb who completed the 19-stage event in three hours, 26 minutes, 20.3 seconds to finish 47.4 seconds ahead of Citroen team-mate Daniel Sordo.
The Frenchman's victory lifted him back on top of the drivers' standings, four points clear of former leader Mikko Hirvonen of Finland with five rallies remaining.
"It was a perfect rally for me but Mikko has become a lot stronger on asphalt," said Loeb who has won every Rally of Germany since the race's inclusion on the world championship circuit in 2002. "This result does not mean the title is already decided."
Loeb was able to cruise to victory on the event's final day, detuning his engine after building up a 40.3-second lead over Spain's Sordo following the first two days of racing.
The two Citroen drivers eased off through Sunday's five stages, culminating in a sprint through Trier's city centre, leaving Belgian Duval and Hirvonen to battle it out for the last podium place.

Hirvonen ended the rally in fourth place, 1:19.7 adrift of Loeb, after failing to close the gap on third-placed fellow Ford driver Francois Duval.
"I would have preferred third but fourth on tarmac is not so bad for me," said Hirvonen, the only driver still with a realistic chance of overtaking Loeb in the overall standings.
"We've done some good stage times and set some good splits, so if we can increase the consistency it's not looking so bad for the tarmac rallies later in the season."

Stobart Ford asphalt specialist Duval, who held a 3.9-second lead over Hirvonen at the start of the day, set the fastest time in the four opening stages to end the rally nine seconds clear of his Ford Abu Dhabi rival.

Subaru drivers Petter Solberg of Norway and Chris Atkinson of Australia finished fifth and sixth with Stobart Ford's

Henning Solberg and Citroen's Estonian Urmo Aava completing the top eight.

ADAC Rallye Deutschland - day three final top 15 overall

Pos

Nr

Driver

Time

Dif prev

Dif 1st

 

1.

1

S. LOEB

3:26:19.7

0.0

0.0

2.

2

D. SORDO

3:27:07.4

+47.7

+47.7

3.

8

F. DUVAL

3:27:39.7

+32.3

+1:20.0

4.

3

M. HIRVONEN

3:27:49.8

+10.1

+1:30.1

5.

5

P. SOLBERG

3:28:55.0

+1:05.2

+2:35.3

6.

6

C. ATKINSON

3:31:05.6

+2:10.6

+4:45.9

7.

15

H. SOLBERG

3:31:55.9

+50.3

+5:36.2

8.

18

U. AAVA

3:31:57.5

+1.6

+5:37.8

9.

4

J. LATVALA

3:32:36.9

+39.4

+6:17.2

10.

11

T. GARDEMEISTER

3:33:36.5

+59.6

+7:16.8

11.

19

A. MIKKELSEN

3:34:50.5

+1:14.0

+8:30.8

12.

16

M. WILSON

3:35:07.7

+17.2

+8:48.0

13.

17

C. RAUTENBACH

3:35:44.4

+36.7

+9:24.7

14.

21

K. AL QASSIMI

3:40:05.7

+4:21.3

+13:46.0

15.

12

P. ANDERSSON

3:40:37.9

+32.2

+14:18.2