2011 Wales Rally GB

Hello and welcome to Builth Wells. Normally this show ground would be

gearing up for the winter fur. But this time, all eyes are on motor

sport, the final round of the World Rally Championship, the Wales Rally

GB. Coming up, the head-to-head battle for the world Drivers' Title.

We take a look at the newest team in the WRC, Mini. And just what

does it take to take part in this event? But first, a look back at

the story of this year's championship. The year began with

this season's only snow rally, in Sweden. Rule changes meant new,

smaller cars. One thing which had did not changed was a disappointing

result for Severn world champion Sebastien lobe, who has only won

once in Sweden. For Petter Solberg, a temporary driving ban for being

caught speeding saw his co-driver in the driver's seat for a change.

Ford, using the Fiesta for the first time, took a clean sweep of

the podium places. Finishing third was Jari-Matti Latvala, and second

place was taken by Fernando Mussano. But the winner was Mikko Hirvonen,

his bid for the world Drivers' Title getting off to the perfect

start. The second round was the Rally of Mexico in March, the

year's first event on gravel. This time, it was Sebastien Ogier who

was experiencing problems. Suspension damage meant retirement.

No such drama for Loeb, who had won in Mexico the previous year, and

repeated that victory in 2011. His bid for a eighth successive world

title was under way. Ford now had a healthy lead in the Manufacturers'

Championship. Round three, in Portugal, and victory last year had

gone to Sebastien Ogier, his first ever WRC wind. But had that

retirement in Mexico dented his confidence? The story of the 2011

rally revolved around punctures. It contributed to Petter Solberg

finishing in a lowly sixth place. Mikko Hirvonen also had to stop and

change a wheel. Loeb was forced to run in Hirvonen's dust, much to the

disgust of Loeb. Citroen won a one- two, much to the relief of the team.

Next, Jordan. A frustrating season for Petter Solberg continued, when

he was forced to retire. Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen

was slowed by having to sweep the road surface of loose gravel, and

he then had a power steering problem. Tactics played a huge part

in the resort. Loeb deliberately slowed almost to a stop to drop

down the running order and so avoid having to act as road sweeper.

There then followed one of the most drilling battles of the entire

season, Latvala fighting Loeb all the way to the end. Only two

seconds separated the pair at the Italy hosted round five, held on

gravel roads on the island of Sardinia. Two new cars were on show,

the Volkswagen Polo, and the Mini Countryman. After scoring points on

each of the first four rounds, Jari-Matti Latvala rolled into

retirement in Italy. Petter Solberg finely finished on the podium, in

third place. But it was Loeb who took the win, his third of the year.

Across the Atlantic once again for round six, the Rally of Argentina.

It was a mixed surface event. Latvala finished in 7th place after

hitting a rock. Ogier also fell foul of the Argentinian gravel,

although he did go on to finish third. But again, it was Loeb who

took the victory, finishing just 2.5 seconds ahead of Hirvonen. Back

to Greece for the Acropolis Rally, and this time, it was Ogier's turn

to employ tactics, slowing to a crawl to make sure he would not go

first on the road. Loeb was unaware of what his teammate had done until

after the stage, but the team told the world champion that they would

not be imposing any kind of orders, and the two drivers were to fight

it out for the win. The slightly better road conditions, or perhaps

the psychological upper hand, meant Ogier took the victory by 10.5

seconds from an unhappy Loeb. Another of the classic rallies came

next, the Rally of Finland, traditionally dominated by local

drivers. Mikko Hirvonen house and his home rally in 2009, but hopes

of another victory were dashed by a large rock hidden in the

undergrowth. The damage was all to clear to see, and Hirvonen would

finish fourth. Another Finn, ex Formula 1 star Kimi Raikkonen, also

fell foul of the scenery, on his way to 9th place. Finishing third

was Sebastien Ogier, but he must have wondered if this puncture had

cost him the difference between first and third. Yet again, Jari-

Matti Latvala fought it out with Loeb, but yet again, it was the

Citroen driver who won that battle. Round 9 was the Wellie of Germany.

It witnessed the two Minis making their debut on tarmac. There was

far better news for the team, with Dani Sordo finishing third, and

recording the first podium finish for them away. Punctures were again

an issue, this was Mikko Hirvonen getting one. Another new

development for this year was the introduction of the so-called Power

Stage, live for television, with bonus points for finishing in the

top three. Ogier took the win, but Loeb won the Power Stage, and three

extra points. Round 10 saw the longest journey of the season for

Australia. American Ken Block discovered just how slippery the

Australian gravel could be. BLEEP! Surprisingly, another crew to

suffer a similar fate was Sebastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena.

They did restart and finish tenth, but you can clearly see that Loeb

was not happy. Australia rewarded England's Matthew Wilson with his

best result of the year, fourth. Petter Solberg claimed third,

despite this spin. In Australia, it was Ford's turn to call their

drivers together for a meeting. The team decided not to risk the one-

Round 11 was France, run on the tarmac roads of the Alsace region,

around the city of Strasbourg. Unsurprisingly, Loeb started as

favourite, but his home event was not to help his hopes for that

eighth world title. A rare engine failure for Loeb, and Kris Meeke

would also return home empty-handed. Ford ran its two Fiestas in a

different colour scheme, but that did not mean that Latvala had any

more grip. Jari-Matti Latvala eventually finished fourth, and

Hirvonen's consistent season continued, when he came home in

third. Dani Sordo recorded Mini's best result to date, second. And so

to round 12, Spain, in late October, watched by some of the largest,

most enthusiastic crowds of the season. Loeb's engine failure in

France had been seen as a one-off by his team, but Ogier discovered

Meeke was fifth and Sordo fourth. Latvala finished on the podium but

was two minutes down the man who finished. Who else but Sebastien

Loeb. His fifth Vic of the season meant Citroen secured the

manufacturers title with one event to go. Confirmation then of that

manufacturers title for Citroen. Their fourth r fourth in a row and

the seventh from the last nine years. Their 397 points compared

toed for's 351 mean the French team cannot now be caught. But the

drivers series is still undecided going into the final road. Loeb and

Hirvonen travel to Wales separated by eight points with Ogier and the

others too far behind to catch up. We have a good chance for sure it

would mean we could do it. That is what I tried to do. 15 years since

I started. It would mean a lot for many people if it happens now.

will see. I think we have to accept that one of us will lose the

championship here, so hopefully it is not me, but I know that it is

possible. A tree disease in the South Wales forest forced the rally

organisers to look to north and mid Wales, some classic names returned.

But with a start on the seafront at Llandudno the rally's first stage

also hadn't been used on the World Championship since 1981. First to

tackle the stage was Sebastien Loeb. Crews would drive the stage twice

before heading for the first forest strange where the real action would

begin. That didn't mean they could afford to take it easy,

particularly the man next into the Set up for the gravel stages and on

gravel tyre, cars weren't in the ideal configuration for the road.

Something Sebastien Ogier had We had a bit too much speed on the

corner. We went a bit wide, and it, the mountain and the cliff...

was it down to the tyres? It was gravel tyres on Tarmac, it is not

easy, we knew it before the start. For sure it is a stupid mistake.

But like all the mistakes. With Ogier's rally effectively over it

was down to Jari-Matti Latvala to show how a driver supports his

team-mate's push for the world title. Solberg came close to

After the second run round the the track Latvala led by two seconds

from Loeb. But before the stage had begun, at the rally's first forest

stage, marshals had been arriving since first thing that morning.

the marshal team, the time keepers, the radio operators, the medical

incident vehicles and so forth will all be arriving, they all sign on

to basically, so they, the event knows they are here, they are

covered from an insurance perspective and from a staffing

perspective we can see where the numbers are of people who are going

and so we can make sure we are happy with all the numbers in each

location. So how many people are you in charge of on this particular

stage for example? We expect in the region of about 330 people covering

all those different roles I talked about. So it is quite a logistical

exercise. We are signing all the marshals into the stage, up until a

couple of years ago everyone was filling out a manual signing on

card, now the system is on line, they register from home, they can

preprint their own signing on card with all their details already in

and all we are doing is scanning the barcodes into the system. So it

is like passport control in a way. Pretty much. And at the end of

signing on we will do a full report for the stage commander, where

everyone is, where they are posted, what their numbers are in case

anyone need to be got in an emergency. 330 marshals might sound

a lot but spectator safety, specialists to work the timing

system and a network of safety rescue and recovery personnel all

add up. We are car -- carrying a set of hydraulic cutting saw,

stabilisation device, saws to cut crash helmets and on the medical

side a lot of spinal support gear, quite a lot of medical

stablelyisation gear, in terms of fluids and oxygen and gases and

pain-killing equipment, and that sort of thing. We can use under the

supervision of the medical staff to get people stab stabilised and away.

So there are two doctors on this stage are they? I believe there are

three. We have one at the start with a rescue vehicle and an

ambulance and a res Kew cue vehicle to help cut people out and do

whatever is necessary to retrieve the vehicles, and in this

particular stage, be have two, in the stage. Because it is 15 or, 15k

I think. So yes, I shall be half way through the stage watching them

through and will cover from my post to the end, because you must go

stage direction. We have two winchs, at the front and back. The front

winch is for basically doing the heavy winching, if there is

anything down a bank. We would use the rear winch to stabilise

ourselves with against,, a tree, if there was not another vehicle to

anchor to, the winch on the back is attached to a crane, which we use

for lifting the vehicle, to tow them out of stage if that is what

is needed. Our job is the B system radio, which is the back up to the

satellite strucking on the rally cars. If that fails, our job is to

make sure that the organisers have all the information, of which cars

are in stage, so should they not appear at the next checkpoint we

know exactly that they are in the five kilometres between the last

time they were seen and they disappeared so the marshals know

where to go and look for the missing car. As zero hour drew near

and with all 330 marshals in place, a succession of organisers vehicles

arrived at the stage start for the final approval to run. I am a dual

purpose role. I make sure the timing is working correctly. I

won't leave until it is. We will go through the stage and make sure no

spectators aren't where they are not supposed to be and things like

that. We are going to go for the final time and the saefty delegate

is with us, as long adds he is happy with the stage it can run.

The safety delegate was indeed satisfied with the stage and so to

the relief of the stage commander, it could go ahead. We have the

final through. The first competitor is on time so we will starting on

time. So on time to the second, and at a little before 4.20 up drove

Championship leader Sebastien Loeb and blissfully unwear of the work

gone into setting up the stage. Lights ablaze the pair charged off,

glad to be into the forest and to have escaped the first stage

Loeb's stunning pace in the gloom More than matched in fact. Keep an

eye on the clock to compare Mikko 2.3 seconds quicker, the Fiesta was

seven tenths of a second behind. Are you happy? Yes, it went like, I

said I am going to be on course, I said I will catch him here, you

know, we are in the game. Behind the championship scrap, the

unblinking Latvala was round six A loose lamp pod meant Matthew

Wilson was only tenth quickest on So it was Kris Meeke the leading

British driver in fifth place in the miniany. -- Mini. From night-

time on Thursday, to predawn on Friday. A 5.30 start the crews head

for the first of the day's stages. A loop of three and one in another

forest would take them to Builth Wells at lunchtime. As Thursday and

Friday were classed as one leg, the rung order was still based on

Championship positions. -- running order. Loeb took first blood, going

Hirvonen struck back on the next, reducing the gap again to 1.3

seconds. Four time rally GB winner Solberg survived a scare, look at

Going into the day's third stage, Loeb's lead was 1.3 seconds.

Hirvonen however was on a mission, and even though the stage was only

a little over four miles in length, the rally lead was about to change

A 1.3 second deficit has switched to a four tenth of a second

It is very tricky, it is changing a lot. You get frustrated. Some

coners you have a God grip. The next corner you have nothing. So it

is very difficult. But that is, we are in Wales, what would you

expect? So part one of Hirvonen's plan was copping together. His

team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had to deny Loeb as many points as

Latvala was third fastest on all of the first three stages of the day,

but he knew he needed to go quicker still to help his colleague. The

next stage would see the end of Sordo's rally when he and his team-

Stage seven. Loeb charged into the stage, determined to retake the

Two minutes later, Hirvonen started the stage. Equally as focused on

heading to Builth Wells with an But, in the slippery conditions, a

long left hand bend caught out the Hirvonen quickly pun the Fiesta

round and headed off again, aware that the spin has handed the rally

lead back to Loeb. But despite the incident not looking that serious,

a faint cloud of smoke suggested all was not well. Sure enough,

before Hirvonen and his co-driver could reach the end of the stage

the car's engine cut out and they Three frustrating minutes ticked by,

until Hirvonen could restart the car's engine. Wild on by the crowds

of spectators who sensed they were witnessing a premature end to the

battle for the drivers' title. There were no such dramas running

ahead of im. Loeb was made wear of the time loss by the data available

inside the car and his team radio, but of course had no idea what had

Hirvonen arrived at the finish with a visible damage to the front end.

What happened? I think we have broken the radiator. The engine

overheated and now it is gone. you going to work on it now? I will

see what we can do. Kris Meeke now have the hopes of the Mini team on

his shoulders. But a spin caused the alternator belt to come off,

and the Northern Ireland driver would be heading for Builth in 11th

place. One of the performances of the day came from the Estonian

Tanak. After the first group of stages, Loeb knew that he nearly

had title number eight in the bag. If I think he can still come in the

points, then I have to take it really easy. But if not, then I can

drive and try to fight for the victory. What the Citroen did not

know was what was happening on the road section. Hirvonen's car had

cut out again, and this time was completely refusing to co-operate.

It finally stopped completely, and no end of coaxing could get it to

restart. No outside assistance is allowed, but they found a

convenient stream to fill up their drinks bottles. The two Finns

worked desperately to refill the radiator, but the outcome was

inevitable, and eventually, Hirvonen had to break the news to

his team, that his fight for the world Drivers' Title was finally at

an end. You do not get so many of these chances to fight for the

title. This year it has been a tough fight, but as a team, we just

pulled it all together to be able to fight here at the last rally, so

it is a shame to end it this way. As you can imagine, we are

devastated, because everybody has put so much effort into it. Two

months ago, we had no chance of the championship. We knew exactly what

we needed to do, which is what Mikko Hirvonen was doing, he was

really taking the fight to Loeb. But driving at that kind of pace,

mistakes can happen. Unfortunately, he spun early on, and it must have

been some branches or something which have damaged the radiator. It

was too much to continue. Another run through those four stages it

still lay ahead, but the rally have lost some of its sparkle. Loeb knew

that the title was his, no matter what the result, and so eased off

slightly. Latvala was now fighting for pride, both for Finland and for

Ford. As a result, the Fiesta was quickest on two of the first three

stages. Hirvonen's retirement meant Mads Ostberg had climbed into the

podium positions. He was now third, but with two days remaining,

anything could happen. 2003 world champion Petter Solberg was only

eight seconds behind third place. Meanwhile, his older brother,

Henning Solberg, was in a relatively secure fifth place.

Jari-Matti Latvala might have won two of the three stages, but a

revitalised Kris Meeke was fastest on the other, Dyfi East. Today's

final stage was another blast through the forest. Loeb's 90% pace

continued, allowing Jari-Matti Latvala to take the victory. There

was still one Ford Fiesta aiming to deny Loeb victory in the final

It was a good afternoon. The morning was not the best, I had a

headache. But we worked well with our team, and I got good feelings.

It will be good to get on the podium again. The start of the

rally was not so good, we lost a bit of time, and then we had to

push on. Just a bit frustrated with the problem we had on the first of

loop, but that is the way it is. It is nice to be able to think back,

we're only a few seconds behind sixth place. I'm setting a target

to try and get fifth place from Henning Solberg, but it is a long

way to go. It was a bit frustrating, but there's two massive days to go.

Anything can happen. Of the Welsh drivers, Jason Pritchard was

competing almost literally in his backyard. Jason was already in 20th

place, where he finished last year. Also on familiar territory was

Elfyn Evans, the son of the 1996 British champion. But he was

founding that local knowledge counted for little on stages like

this. I found them pretty difficult, to be honest. The grip level is

very low in certain areas, and in so insistent, which makes it even

more difficult. -- inconsistent. It is difficult to find the right

balance. Finding the right balance is it something the newest team in

the competition knows all about. Mini only entered the series in

Sardinia, so this was the first time they had encountered the wet

Welsh gravel. There is a slight irreverence about the Mini, it is a

young, not frivolous, but rather exciting little product, which

always turns up the unexpected. I guess that is what the rally car

has done. Many people were questioning whether it was the

right car, the right sized body, the engine, all the rest of it, but

lo and behold, we are on the podium in the first few events. So I think

we have put the sceptics back in their box to start with. Now, we

have got to start to deliver in the longer term. We always knew we

could make a great car from the Mini. We always knew that the Mini

was an appealing brand. We have put the two together and created the

world's favourite rally car. From that perspective we have got great,

great appeal. Technically, we have still got more to learn, but the

team are really going to deliver on that, I'm certain. We're really

pleased with the way things have gone. We did not want to have too

many expectations. We have been trying to tell people that it was a

three-year programme, and people did not believe this, but genuinely,

this year is a testing year, next year we will do the whole

Championship, but still a learning year, still with the relatively

small team, focused on developing the team and the car. It is only in

2013 When we're meant to be talking about winning rallies and fighting

for the Championship. So we are ahead of expectations. But at the

back of our minds, we always felt we had done a good job with the car,

and why not look towards getting on the podium? The team has opted for

a combination of experience and looking to the future. The

experience comes courtesy of Spain's Dani Sordo, while the

future star category is filled by Northern Ireland's Kris Meeke.

have had one accident this year, we took that on the chin, but

otherwise it has been very, very good. The times have been there, we

have to look to Dani Sordo to be trying to extract the maximum out

of the car, with his experience. But I have been very, very close,

and at times, I have been able to set better times than him, but

rivalry is always good. But we're looking at the overall picture for

the team. We're happy, but the engineers might tell you they

expected it. To be honest, as regards our targets, we're on

schedule. What do you do at a test, what kind of information can you

get from running through a couple of miles of a Welsh stage? It is

all relative to the event. Obviously you do not experience

conditions like this anywhere else in the world, other than Wales.

We're looking at specific suspension set-ups for this type of

terrain, and trying different things on the car with the balance

of the MacCrone, to help filed struggling with the balance of the

chassis, to help find a balance on these tricky roads. Today is all

about refining the set-up. It is not major, significant changes to

the car, but subtle changes in the suspension and everything. We have

had a couple of British world champions, and I enjoy that, for me,

it is one of the keys to the business, finding young talent and

developing it. I would love to see another British world champion, in

a Mini, one day. Back to the rally, and Saturday began with a loop of

three stages, totalling 64 kilometres. But the man in fourth

place overnight would not even reach the first of those stages,

with a fuel leak making his car catch fire. It was a proper fire,

it was not a nice situation. But there's nothing we could have done,

we did everything we could. day's first stage, Hafren, was

always the longest. -- was also the longest. Loeb went early on.

Latvala sensed a chance to attack. Sure enough, halfway through the

stage, he was four seconds quicker than Loeb, and looked to have

snatched the lead. Precious seconds were lost selecting reverse gear

and backing out of the ditch. The chance for Latvala to retake the

lead he had briefly held at the start of the event slipped away,

but just how much time had he not? All in all, around 10 seconds had

been dropped. That was a great start, but what happened in the

middle? It was really muggy on the breaking, and I panicked a bit, and

I went straight into an access road. The engine stopped and I had to

reverse. There are rumours Kimi Raikkonen is heading back to

Formula 1 next season, but any hopes he had of ending his world

wellie career on a high were dashed when he slid off the road in Hafren

Forest. Spectators dragged the car back onto the road, but the Finn

retired shortly after driving out of the stage. Stage 13, the

shortest, at Sweet Lamb, and Loeb was just three tenths of a second

slower than Latvala. The situation was reversed on the next stage,

Myherin, which included a climb towards the wind turbines. This

time, Latvala was seven tenths of a second slower than Loeb. Third

place was secure for Mads Ostberg, but pacing himself he found tricky,

without anybody to fight. Meanwhile, Henning Solberg was two minutes

behind his compatriot. Estonia's Ott Tanak was only 20 seconds

behind Henning Solberg going into the stage, but an incident forced

him to drop out. Correcting his pace notes caused the smallest of

lapses in concentration, and picking up a blockage to the

radiator meant a round two minutes would be lost, while the coach

Sordo mad reentered under the superrally regulations and was

using the event to gather data for the team. Ken block was in tenth

place, but the American driver would damage the front of his

Fiesta, when he miss judged the break braking point for a gate. The

damage looked bad, buzz his mechanics would be more than up to

the task as were Kris Meeke, although the nin team had a more

challenging it is a bg, sorting out the service mounts in Builth Wells.

As soon as I went off the start line in the stage, the engine

mounting or the bolt connecting the mounting broke, and the engine

started moving. It then pulled the boost pipe off for the turbo and

done quite a bit of damage, but luckily it kept going. And

obviously we were running well below par. But we tried to minimise

the damage. We tried to get the car back so we are grateful to have a

strong car. The mechanics did their stuff so Meeke could concentrate on

catching Matthew Wilson, five second or so ahead. We had a scare

in Sweet Lamb. There was a big rock that got dragged into the line. We

were hoping it hadn't done any damage. Thankfully I don't think it

has. That was the only thing this morning.

The afternoon consisted of that look loop of three stages again,

but this time the national event had been through. Loeb set off well

aware that conditions had changed. One thing that hadn't altered was

Latvala's pace on the stage. Determined not repeat the morner's

-- morning's error, this time the Eight 8.6 seconds faster than Loeb

laful laugh had finally grabbed the lead. Tanak's superb drive resumed,

despite that two minute time loss. Unfaised by his mistake he was five

seconds away from taking seventh place. Matthew Wilson on the other

hand was dropping down the leaderboard, thanks to a power

That meant Kris Meeke would tackle the Spectator pleasing Sweet Lamb

stage, having moved back up into Stage 17, the second run through,

and Loeb again flew through the This time there was a complimentary

assessment of his pone feant from the new World Champion as he

reached the top line. -- stop line. Cannot do anything. I don't know.

It maybe he is much better than me, or maybe we are cleaning a bit. I

have done a perfect stage. You have to watch it on the video. You will

find no mistake nowhere. Whatever the reason his perfect stage was

By now, Meeke was comfortably the leading British driver in fifth

place overall. To the delight of a northern Irish mini driver from a

previous era. Paddy hop Kirk. So with 17 of the rally's 2 stages

done and dusted this is is how the What do you think is the secret of

your success? I managed to keep it clean and tidy. In the morning I

was attacking a lot but I did small mistake, I went too much sideways

and now I managed to keep it more on the clean. We got the message

about Petter, that created some difficulty for me because I tried

to play safe. It didn't work at all, so it has been a different day, I

have not been pushing, then it is chaotic, it has been tricky.

Welsh drivers had a day of two halves. Jason Pritchard worked his

way up to 1th overall. This morning it was all right. It was slippy and

we were cautious under the braking but Sweet Lamb was a good stage. It

is the first time I have enjoyed the other stage. The second time

over this jump on the Sweet Lamb stage saw Jason and Elfyn Evans

retire, after seriously damaging their cars. Two stages from the end

of the academy series, he was a minute-and-a-half in the lead, and

it seems like he has had a very heavy landing over a jump on the

Sweet Lamb stage, the stage deteriorated away very badly and he

landed in a hole and he damaged the front radiator, it sound from the

messages we are having, there will be no chance of carrying on in

Sweet Lamb. It is not just him, it has happened to a few cars.

Apparently six cars done the same thing, so it is a shame. If that is

the case, you know, there wasn't a bit of warning like. Bitter

disappointment for both Welsh drivers then, but for a Welsh co-

driver the rally was anything but disappointing. Gareth Roberts and

his driver Craig Breen began the rally with a slim chance of winning

the FIA Academy Award and with it a 500,000 euro prize to be spent on

next year's programme. It was a tall order, but increedibly, they

did it. Securing the academy win on the rally's very last stage. --

I can't find words to describe this moment, for sure the most amazing

feel, to finally get here, after all the effort we have put in all

year, all the ups and downs we have made to it the finish. We finished

on level points. I am thrilled. Couldn't be happier. What does this

mean do you as a co-driver? It is a fantastic opportunity to put me and

Craig somewhere else, it is a brilliant step up to come up

through the ranks of the academy, so hopefully we will see you, see

what we can do next year. Will you be giving up your day job? Who know,

who knows. The rally's final morning consisted of a loop of

three stage, to be repeated after a final service halt P Rally leader

Jari-Matti Latvala was first into the opening stage, half way. The

stage started on Tarmac, before switching to a gravel road,

although Latvala's pace on both Loeb went next, but yet again had

to play second best to the Finn. Latvala clearly wanted to end the

season by scoring his first win of the year, and not even the now

eight time World Champion was going to stop him. But there was just as

thrilling a battle in store outside the podium places. Solberg and his

co-driver were just eight ft quickest through half way. The pair

behind them, Kris Meeke and his co- driver had closed to gap to 35 secs

with five stages remain, but the rally took a bizarre twist when on

the road section to the next stage Loeb was involved in a road

accident with a spectator. This is a terrible way to end the rally.

What happened. It happened on the road section, I came a car in front,

and I went on the side, but we are in England, and he's, he is not

English so he went on the wrong side, and we crashed, so it was not

a big ill pact, but in the front, it is very open, so now the water

is coming out and it is finished. So that is the rally over for you

definitely. Yes, we are World Champion. So that was that. Laful

was told of Loeb's retirement as he sat on the start line of stage 19.

Suddenly, his lead had grown to over three minutes from the man who

inherited second place, Mads Like Latvala Ostberg was keen to

end the year of on a high. His second place in Sweden looked like

being repeated in Wales. Kris Meeke was again faster than Solberg,

another mixed surface stage and once again, the clock in the right

hand corner of your screen will 12 point 5 seconds quirk meant the

gap was now down to 22.6. The final stage in batch of three was the

short blast round Monument. The same test as the power stage later

in the day. Despite having no real threat, Latvala stormed through

Monument to extend his lead still further. Henning Solberg must have

been thankful that the stage was only just over four kilometres long.

He was slower than Meeke yet again, although the difference this time

was just 1.3 seconds. Meeke's mini would head for service just over 21

seconds behind the Fiesta, with Matthew Wilson helpless to do

anything but watch on as they scrapped for the final podium place.

We are fifth at the minute, and obviously we can't really catch

anyone in front, and there is quite a gap behind, but obviously there

is a big battle going on for that third and fourth place, you never

know what can happen. If we can just try and keep our nose clean,

and you never know. What would it mean to you to get a podium?

means a lot for me. So we will see. I concentrate now and try to be

calm, because there is a long time to go. At this stage of the game it

is all about getting to the finish, and for sure if we get a podium it

will be very special for the team. And obviously myself. On to the

rally's final stage, the power stage with bonus points. Two

drivers who had already retired from the rally and restarted using

the superrally rules benefited the most. Danni Sordo delighted the

mini team by picking up two.s for setting the second fastest time. --

two points. Quickest through the power stage was the man who b the

rally's first retirement. Sebastien Ogier and his co-driver once again

picked up three points by winning the power stage but was it also

their final stage in a Citroen DS3 as rumours were doing the round

about a possible move to Ford over the winter. Kris Meeke closed the

gap to Henning Solberg to 1.seconds. Scoring a podium finish would be

the perfect end to the year, but it wasn't to. -- to be. That half spin

put paid to the dreams of third place and Chris clearly knew what

he had done. Solberg made no such errors and so the final step on the

podium went to the Fiesta driver. Making it two Norwegians in the top

three, Moss was also delighted with his result. His two second places

had come at opposite ends of the season, but he didn't care. Just as

on the opening round the podium was an all Ford affair, giving some

comfort the team after the disappointment of losing the

driver's title. Latvala was only third on the power stage but it was

his first win in over an year and on an event he regards as one of

his favourites. He could hardly wait to begin celebrating. The

final leaderboard looked like this. Meeke missed out on third place by

over 7 seconds and Matthew Wilson making it two British drivers in

the top five. Strangely enough the top five contained just one Finn

but he seemed happy enough. I think after we heard the accident of Loeb,

that was the most difficult one. The last three were not too bad,

because I managed to find to drive more calm way, so it went all right.

Is this a spring board for better things for Ford and you? I hope so.

They have been so long in the Championship, and long time since

last time won the Championship, so I really would like to see Ford

being number one next year. have totally committed to Ford?

for next year. Jari-Matti Latvala's win means he's finished fourth in

the driver's Championship, 24 points behind Sebastien Ogier. With

Mikko Hervonen and Sebastien Loeb failing to finish Loeb takes his

eighth successive title by the same margin he came to Wales: It feels

great. It is an incredible moment for us, for me and Daniel. We were

seven time World Champion. Equal with another. It is an incredible

feeling. It was also an incredible feeling because this title was not

easy to take, it was a big battle during all the season. With Ogier,,

Latvala. With everybody we had a big rival. It was a big fight. We

had tho give everything all the time, so finally to have this title,

at the end of the season, is a great moment. We didn't get the

sting in the tail we expected but the Welsh weather still played a

part in the rally. Next year the event moves from its slot at the