Seb moves ahead of Carlos Sainz in the all time rankings with his 27th WRC win

The final day of Rally Japan saw one of the most exciting battles for first place in a long time. Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm battled it out on today’s six stages, with Loeb coming out tops and scoring a historic win.

Kronos Citroen driver Loeb started the day with a 25.6 second lead over BP Ford’s Gronholm, but the Finn pushed hard to take time out of his French rival and narrowed the gap to just 5.4 seconds on the penultimate stage of the rally, setting the scene for a dramatic finish on the thrilling spectator stage at Obihiro. Neither of them won the final special stage but Loeb was the winner of the rally, by a slim 5.6 seconds. The win is historic, in that by taking his 27th FIA World Rally Championship victory, Loeb now becomes the most successful rally driver in history. “It was a very difficult rally,” said Loeb. “It has been a very mental thing as well.”

Gronholm was philosophical about second place. “There is nothing to regret today,” he said. “I couldn’t go any faster. Maybe I lost the rally yesterday by making one mistake too many – the first might have been okay but the error was to lose concentration afterwards. ”

Mikko Hirvonen was pleased to finish third at Rally Japan – his 50th World Rally Championship event. The young Finn was neither threatened from behind nor pressured to catch the car in front, so he used the rally to improve his concentration and speed at ‘safe level’. “I was laughing thinking how slow I was,” said Hirvonen. “In fact, I realized I wasn’t that slow!”

The most notable drama in today’s top ten was the crash of Stobart VK M Sport’s Luis Perez Companc, who spun sideways after clipping a wheel and was stuck on the stage, leaving only a narrow passing point for the cars behind him. His accident was even more notable because it occurred on the penultimate stage, when Loeb and Gronholm running behind him desperately needed a clean run so they could fight for victory.

Crowd thrillers at Rally Japan included Japanese star Toshiro Arai. Arai, who usually drives in the Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC), entered Rally Japan in a Subaru Impreza WRCar. He was thrilled to finish sixth outright despite not driving a WRCar for four years. “Now I know how to drive this car, next time I will go faster,” he said.

Fumio Nutahara was reason for more local cheers. He took victory in the P-WRC on the rally’s final day. Nutahara had driven consistently well but was lying second for most of the event until Jari-Matti Latvala rolled on stage 25, prematurely ending a drive that had impressed so many. “I am very happy - so very happy,” beamed Nutahara at the end of the final stage.

Top finishing non priority driver was Hiroshi Yanagisawa from the Cusco team, who finished 13th outright in the unofficial classifications.

Nutahara was not the only beaming smile at the end of the rally. Crowds, officials and competitors alike gathered at Kita Aikoku Service Park, adjacent to the running of the Obihiro Super Special Stage, full of fanatic rally fever. “I am very happy and proud that not only have we had such an exciting battle here for a win at Rally Japan, but we also have such a historic win,” said Chairman of the Rally Japan Organizing Committee Kunihrio Tabata. “Everyone wants to have a good rally – but I think we can say this turned out to be a great rally!”

Next round

The championship returns to Europe for the first of two consecutive rounds in the eastern Mediterranean.  The Cyprus Rally (21 - 24 September) is based in the coastal town of Limassol.

Final positions 1.  S Loeb/D Elena                      F               Citroen Xsara           3hr 22min 20.4sec 2.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen     FIN             Ford Focus RS   3hr 22min 26.0sec 3.  M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen               FIN             Ford Focus RS   3hr 25min 06.9sec 4.  C Atkinson/G MacNeall               AUS             Subaru Impreza  3hr 28min 28.2sec 5.  M Stohl/I Minor                     A               Peugeot 307             3hr 29min 31.1sec 6.  T Arai/T Sircombe                   J               Subaru Impreza  3hr 31min 25.5sec 7.  D Sordo/M Marti                     E               Citroen Xsara           3hr 31min 26.7sec 8.  P Solberg/P Mills                   N               Subaru Impreza  3hr 34min 04.1sec 9.  F Nutahara/D Barritt                J               Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 45min 17.8sec 10 G Pozzo/D Stillo                     ARG             Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 45min 45.2sec