The Jordan Rally provided a bigger cliffhanger than coastal erosion, with Sebastien Ogier heading into the very last stage with a lead of just 0.5 seconds over Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala...
“Unbelievable!” said Jari-Matti. “Just unbelievable! The last stage is going to be the most stressful stage of my life, as I know that Ogier is really, really quick on these stages. But I’m going to be a big charge: that’s all I can do.”
Both drivers were pedalling their cars, to quote the great Murray Walker, “like their pants were on fire.”
“Any faster than this would be crazy,” said Red Bull-backed Sebastien Ogier. “There’s nothing left to come.”
But there was, as Ogier stormed the final stage to become the first double-winner of the year. Latvala was gutted, but took it on the chin: “If there is a winner, there has to be a loser,” he said. “Of course it hurts, which is strange as second is still a good result...”
“Sometimes you have to look at the big picture. And for me that’s the championship.”
Sebastien Loeb was third: ironically that counts as a bad result for him too, although he moves into the sole lead of the drivers’ championship. “I’m happy, I suppose,” he said, without too much enthusiasm. “Sometimes you have to look at the big picture. And for me that’s the championship.”
There was a little while when it looked like the Jordan Rally might not happen at all. After a series of transport delays, the event was shortened to two days, with all the mechanics forced to put up the service park in hours rather than days. “They’ve done an astonishing job,” said Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson on Thursday morning. “It’s maybe not as comprehensive as the normal set-up, but under the circumstances it's remarkable.”
Kimi Raikkonen has fond memories of the Jordan Rally as it’s where he scored his very first World Rally Championship points by finishing eighth last year. This time he went two better to claim sixth: his best finish of the year.
“The driving has been better and we’re pushing a bit harder,” said the Iceman. “We have a gap between now and our next rally in Greece, but this isn’t the first time we’ve had a gap like this - it was the same over the winter. It is what it is. There’s not really any main target, we just try to improve - that’s all.”
Want more?
- Check out redbull.com's WRC event page
- Sebastien Ogier's profile page
- Sebastien Loeb's profile page
- Jordan Rally event page
- The saga of the Jordan Rally in five songs
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