Citroen's Sebastien Loeb won the Rally of Jordan on the shores of the Dead Sea and extend his lead in the World Rally Championship standings
Loeb took his 56th win at World Rally Championship, finishing 35.8 seconds ahead of Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala in a Ford.
After the race Loeb quoted to the official WRC site:
"It's been a good rally for us and with a 31-point lead over Mikko Hirvonen it means it has been a good start to the season. I really had to go flat-out because Jari-Matti was going very fast and made me push to the limit all of the time."
Norwegian Peter Solberg, in a privately-entered Citroen, was 3rd while championship contender Mikko Hirvonnen finished back in 20th position and ex-F1 driver Kimi Raikonnen made his first WRC finish in 8th position after his retirements in the 2 first rounds of the Championship. Both drivers had an exit in day 2 of the rally however, Hirvoneen lost significant race time while Raikkonen's mistake cost him only 2 positions.
Loeb's teammate in Citroen, Sebastien Ogier finished 6th after being penalised with 50 sec penalty time. In fact, Ogier was instructed by his team to check in early at the start of the first stage in order to clear the rcing line of loose surface gravel and help Citroen team leader Loeb secure his victory although his main championship opponent Hirvonenn was back in 20th position.
