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
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