The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena maintained their advantage in Wales Rally GB today to clinch victory on the final round of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship. The pair fought hard to stay ahead of Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson, who finished a close second in their privately-run Citroën C4 WRC. Third position was claimed by Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in a Ford Focus RS WRC.The FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers was clinched by Loeb* on his home round in France. However, the battle for second and third positions in the series was intense. Third place in Wales was sufficient for Latvala to claim second and Petter Solberg finished third in the series. Sébastien Ogier’s retirement from the event on Saturday dropped him from second to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. The Citroën Total World Rally Team also won the Manufacturers’ Championship* in France and the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team finished second.The final leg of Wales Rally GB took in just 76.14 competitive kilometres over two loops of two stages, however conditions remained tricky. Loeb started the day with a slim 4.8 second lead, but in the first run through the Resolfen stage increased his advantage after Solberg backed off in the slippery conditions. By the mid-day service, the Frenchman had pulled out a 14.3 second lead and this afternoon he again extended that when Solberg hit a rock and damaged a wheel in SS18 and then briefly went off the road in stage 19.Jari-Matti Latvala spent the day closing in on team-mate Hirvonen. The Finn had a problem when the steering column came loose in the opening stage of the day, but went on to overhaul Hirvonen in stage 19 to clinch second in the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers. Dani Sordo finished fifth, 18.9 seconds adrift of Hirvonen. All other positions within the top 10 remained unchanged throughout the day.(*subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA)
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