Sebastien Loeb took his 60th rally victory and claimed his 7th consecutive world rally title at the Rallye de France in the Alsace roads with two races left for the end of the season
Citroen driver cruised easily to victory after being on the lead during the 2 slippery conditions and he cruised cautiously to the victory in the final day without any other driver to manage doubt his domination. His closest - best of the rest rival for the title, Sebastien Ogier, crashed out in the third official Citroen C4 and left Loeb unchallenged through the rest of the rally. Loeb commented:
"It's incredible to win here. I didn't expect so many people here, but to win here is a great feeling."
His Spanish team mate Daniel Sordo finsished 2nd and fellow Citroen driver, Norwegian Petter Solberg held off the Ford of Finn Jari Matti Latvala for third place more than a minute behind Loeb.
Solberg and Sordo won the first two stages of the day, while rally organisers cancelled the penultimate stage fearing spectator safety as about 40,000 people lined up to congratulate their countryman Loeb for his success.
Former F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen experienced another retirement he admited that he has no intention to return to F1 with the Renault F1 team next season - a move which is reckoned to all-but rule-out the Finn’s return to racing and to keep him in the World Rally Championship and feels more confident about a second season at rallying’s highest level.
Speaking to a Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, Raikkonen spoke out against what he saw as manoeuvring from Renault.
"I am very disappointed with how they have used my name for their own marketing. My managers have weeks ago been in contact, once, with Renault's team leader (Eric Boullier). That is all...
At no point have I even seriously considered driving for Renault and I can assure that it is 100 percent certain that I will not drive for Renault in 2011."
Raikkonen’s option agreement with Red Bull has yet to be concluded for next season, but Citroen Racing director Olivier Quesnel remains adamant the French firm wants to retain him for another year - but the Finn’s seat will have to be funded. Moreoever, both the Monster Ford World Rally Team and Prodrive’s fledgling Mini WRC team are both known to have had discussions with Raikkonen, but those talks have yet to extend to an offer him any drivinh seat.
The official Formula One website (www.formula1.com) quoted Boullier as saying only this week that he was flattered by Raikkonen's interest but would reserve judgement.
"He contacted us. But once again, our main issue at the moment is whether we should keep Petrov. Regarding Kimi, I would have to speak personally with him first, look him in the eyes to see if I see enough motivation there for him to return to Formula One. It doesn't make sense to hire somebody, even a former world champion, if you cannot be sure that his motivation is still 100 percent. Why should you invest in somebody who leaves you guessing?"
