Sébastien Loeb claimed outright victory in Rally d’Italia Sardegna today and in doing so took his fifth consecutive win of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship. The French Citroën Xsara driver cruised through the closing leg, returning to Porto Cervo with a runaway winning margin of two minutes and 41.4 seconds. Monegasque co-driver Daniel Elena also goes into the record books as the most successful navigator in the history of the series, with 25 world rally victories to his name, all alongside Loeb.
In the Championship standings, Loeb moves further ahead as nearest rival Marcus Grönholm was forced into retirement during the second leg. The Frenchman is now 31 points ahead and his Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team further extended its lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship as Loeb’s team-mate, Xavier Pons, notched up points for fourth overall.
After Grönholm’s retirement, team-mate Mikko Hirvonen was left to uphold Ford honours. Despite being too far adrift to mount an assault for victory, he claimed second overall and the best result of his career. Daniel Sordo, driving a privately-entered Citroën Xsara, finished on the podium for the third time this season, but for the first time on a gravel rally, and the Spaniard retains third overall in the Drivers’ Championship. Subaru’s Chris Atkinson, fifth going into the last stage, crashed, leaving Finns Jussi Valimaki and Kristian Sohlberg to take fifth and sixth respectively.
The eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to Athens for the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally (1-4 June), hosted in the Olympic Stadium.
Rally d’Italia Sardegna – Final Results
| 1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3 hr 54 min 18.9sec |
| 2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 57 min 00.3sec |
| 3. Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3 hr 57 min 46.6sec |
| 4. Xavier Pons/Carlos Del Barrio | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3 hr 59 min 47.2sec |
| 5. Jussi Valimaki/Jarko Kalliolepo | Mitsubishi Lancer WRC | 4 hr 01 min 27.7sec |
| 6. Kristian Sohlberg/Tomi Tuominen | Subaru Impreza WRC | 4 hr 01 min 55.8sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 7 of 16 rounds)
| Sébastien Loeb (F) | 66 points |
| Marcus Grönholm (S) | 35 points |
| Daniel Sordo (E) | 30 points |
| Manfred Stohl (A) | 20 points |
| Petter Solberg (N) | 18 points |
| Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) | 15 points |
| Gigi Galli (I) | 11 points |
| Xavier Pons (E) | 10 points |
| Alexandre Bengue (F) | 9 points |
| Chris Atkinson (AUS) | 8 points |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 7 of 16 rounds)
| Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team | 85 points |
| BP-Ford World Rally Team | 65 points |
| Subaru World Rally Team | 58 points |
| OMV Peugeot Norway | 36 points |
| Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team | 15 points |
| Red Bull-Škoda Team | 14 points |