08 May 11

BREAKING
NEWS:
Loeb wins
Italian WRC
thriller

Sebastien Loeb has extended his lead of the World Rally Championship for drivers after winning Rally d'Italia Sardegna for a fourth time.

Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, Loeb faced the daunting prospect of running first on the road and clearing a line through the loose surface gravel for the drivers behind for three consecutive days to claim his second victory of 2011 alongside co-driver Daniel Elena.

The result was also the fourth consecutive triumph for the factory Citroen squad in this season’s WRC, which moves it ahead of Ford in the race for the manufacturers’ crown.

“Leading from nearly the start that’s really a good job,” said Loeb. “Mikko was pushing very hard behind so we really had to take big risks all the time. We lost time in some places because of the cleaning but we took it back in some other places. It was really a hard fight.”

Loeb’s success ahead of Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen and Citroen privateer Petter Solberg was his 64th at world championship level.