Citroen's Sebastien Loeb crashed competition in WRC and is heading easily to his seventh title in a row, stamping his authority on the Burlgarian roads once again after finishing first in a comfortable gap of 29.5 seconds ahead of Spanish team mate Dani Sordo.Loeb had built up a lead of more than half a minute after winning the first five stages of the first World Rally Championship event to be held in Bulgaria but then opted for caution in the final sections of the race.
"It's been a perfect race. I made a good start and it was a very good first day.
"On the second day we had difficult conditions and it was difficult to keep concentration. But it was important to just keep the rhythm and not make any mistakes, not take any risks."
Sordo, yet to post a world championship win, hung on to second after a tense battle with Norway's Petter Solberg who was driving a privately-entered Citroen, came third despite winning five of the last seven stages of the 354-km race.
Ogier, who clinched his maiden win at the Rally of Portugal in May, completed a perfect day for Citroen with his fourth position. It was the best finish for a manufacturer since Toyota achieved a similar result at the 1993 Safari Rally.
Ex-junior world champion Ogier, 26, lost a lot of time after going off the road on the opening day but rediscovered his speed and even managed to win the last stage in the Rila mountains.
Rally of Sweden winner Hirvonen was the highest-placed Ford in fifth position with team mate and Finnish compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala sixth.
Hirvonen commented:
"Fifth brings some good points for the team but I hoped for more. Now I'm looking forward to my home rally in Finland later this month where I want to fight for a win."
Hirvonen and Latvala failed to finish on the podium for a second time in a row as Citroen opened up a 47-point lead over Ford in the constructor standings with six races remaining.Latvala commented:
"It was a difficult weekend. I was aiming a place in the top five so I'm a little disappointed not to achieve that."
Former Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen, had one more crash duyring the race.
Loeb has now won the last 16 all-asphalt WRC races.
Moreover, Loeb took his record career tally of wins to 58 and in the overall standings now has 151 points, followed by Sebastien Ogier with 100 and Mikko Hirvonen on 86.
