Rally de Portugal

The Rally de Portugal finished up this past weekend, and after watching the coverage I must say that it was quite eventful.

We can take a look at the result from the rally’s official site:

1. Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroen C4 3:53:33.1
2. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +3:13.9
3. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroen C4 +5:05.3
4. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen Ford Focus RS +5:37.1
5. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS +7:08.1
6. Daniel Carlsson/Denis Giraudet Citroen Xsara WRC +8:13.2
7. Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchni Citroen Xsara WRC +9:39.6
8. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Anttila Ford Focus WRC +10:44.9
9. Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor Citroen Xsara WRC +12:46.0
10. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene Ford Focus RS04 +13:51.6

As has become somewhat usual, Sebastien Loeb has won yet another round. Gronholm and his teammate Hirvonen had originally finished 2nd and 3rd, but a technical infringement gave them each 5-minute penalties. Which was good news for Petter Solberg in his Subaru.

Solberg’s teammate, Chris Atkinson did not finish due to a marvelous wreck he had on what I believe was stage 12. A crest, in which many cars had problems with, managed to catch Atkinson and his co-driver Glenn Macneall by surprise. After the event it was revealed that Macneall will no longer be Atkinson’s co-driver due to Glenn Macneall having some personal obligations he felt he need to get back to Australia for.

The Subaru WRC 2007 still seems to be improving, and with a few tests sessions scheduled in the 1-month break until Rally Argentina, things may start to look better for the Subaru team in Argentina. Here are your standings so far…

1. S. LOEB (F) 38 Pts
2. M. GRÖNHOLM (FIN) 37 Pts
3. M. HIRVONEN (FIN) 30 Pts
4. D. SORDO (E) 19 Pts
5. P. SOLBERG (N) 16 Pts
6. H. SOLBERG (N) 11 Pts
7. C. ATKINSON (AUS) 10 Pts
8. D. CARLSSON (S) 9 Pts
9. J. LATVALA (FIN) 7 Pts
10. T. GARDEMEISTER (FIN) 5 Pts

By the way, there was never any elaboration on Tony Gardemesiter’s exclusion from the rally that I mentioned before. If and when I ever find out why Sebastien Loeb was allowed to continue in last year’s rally Acropolis, I will let you know.

(Photo taken from Eurosport.)