Loeb wins Rallye Monte-Carlo!

Sebastien Loeb has won Rallye Monte-Carlo for a sixth time following a dominant performance behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with Monegasque co-driver Daniel Elena.

Loeb began the final day of the World Rally Championship qualifier, which consisted of one test, the 5.16-kilometre Power Stage, with a lead of 2m41.6s. After completing the challenging run unscathed, victory was all but assured.

Dani Sordo won an exciting battle for second in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC, the marque’s first podium on the legendary event since Rauno Aaltonen took the overall victory in 1967 in a Cooper S.

Petter Solberg bagged the final podium spot on his return to the factory Ford team after an absence of more than a decade.

SS18: Power Stage glory for Loeb

Event winner Sebastien Loeb has secured maximum World Rally Championship points on Rallye Monte-Carlo by securing three bonus points with victory on the event-closing Power Stage in his Citroen DS3 WRC.

Loeb took 3m27.8s to complete the challenging stage with team-mate Mikko Hirvonen second fastest, 1.2s slower than Loeb, to bag two bonus points. M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Evgeny Novikov rounded out at an impressive Rallye Monte-Carlo debut with his first Power Stage point in third.

Ford driver Petter Solberg’s outright pace was restricted having to run three used winter tyres and one winter tyre. Nevertheless he made it through to secure third overall.

Pierre Campana completed the tight and twisty test, held in dry and mild conditions, with a small powersteering problem on his factory MINI. He was ninth fastest as a result, 10.1s down on Loeb.

Czech Martin Prokop fended off MINI privateer Armindo Araujo in the battle for ninth place overall in his Fiesta by going three seconds faster than the Portuguese through the stage. Prokop was fifth quickest, 4.4s adrift of stage winner Loeb’s pace.

Francois Delecour, who finished sixth overall, handed driving duties to co-driver Dominique Savignoni for the stage to mark Savignoni’s retirement from the sport. Savignoni’s time was 52.2s slower than the fastest run.