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02/02/2009
Rain Fails To Dampen Loeb's Rally Ireland Victory
Torrential rain and the cancellation of two stages of the opening round of the World Rally Championships failed to halt another victory by French driver Sebastien Loeb at the wekend.
Loeb, (pictured here by Adam McCalden) eased to victory in Rally Ireland on Sunday to make a perfect start to his defence of the World Rally Championship with the next round also being in challenging conditions as Rally Norway starts on 13 February.
The Frenchman came in well ahead of his Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo, with Ford's Mikko Hirvonen back in third.
"It's been really tough but I'm happy to take the 10 points," said Loeb.
However, he just survived a late scare to cross the finish ramp in Sligo 1 minute 27.9 seconds ahead of team-mate Dani Sordo.
Loeb chalked up 11 stage wins on the rain-lashed three-day race to register his second successive Rally Ireland victory.
But the five-times world champ was nearly caught out on the 14km penultimate stage at Donegal Bay.
He said: "It was so slippery, the back went wide and we stayed sideways for about 60 metres. We kept going though and didn't lose too much time!"
On Friday night things were so bad that incessant rain left organisers with no choice but to cancel two scheduled night-time stages around Fardross and Murley in Co Fermanagh.
"We are especially disappointed for all the fans who were looking forward to seeing the starts of the FIA World Rally Championship on their doorstep," according to Gordon Noble, Clerk of the Course.
Henning Solberg was fourth, followed by Chris Atkinson, Sebastian Ogier, Matthew Wilson and Khalid Al Qassimi.
Meanwhile, Eamonn Boland was the top Irish finisher in ninth place.
(BMcC)/JM
Loeb, (pictured here by Adam McCalden) eased to victory in Rally Ireland on Sunday to make a perfect start to his defence of the World Rally Championship with the next round also being in challenging conditions as Rally Norway starts on 13 February.
The Frenchman came in well ahead of his Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo, with Ford's Mikko Hirvonen back in third.
"It's been really tough but I'm happy to take the 10 points," said Loeb.
However, he just survived a late scare to cross the finish ramp in Sligo 1 minute 27.9 seconds ahead of team-mate Dani Sordo.
Loeb chalked up 11 stage wins on the rain-lashed three-day race to register his second successive Rally Ireland victory.
But the five-times world champ was nearly caught out on the 14km penultimate stage at Donegal Bay.
He said: "It was so slippery, the back went wide and we stayed sideways for about 60 metres. We kept going though and didn't lose too much time!"
On Friday night things were so bad that incessant rain left organisers with no choice but to cancel two scheduled night-time stages around Fardross and Murley in Co Fermanagh.
"We are especially disappointed for all the fans who were looking forward to seeing the starts of the FIA World Rally Championship on their doorstep," according to Gordon Noble, Clerk of the Course.
Henning Solberg was fourth, followed by Chris Atkinson, Sebastian Ogier, Matthew Wilson and Khalid Al Qassimi.
Meanwhile, Eamonn Boland was the top Irish finisher in ninth place.
(BMcC)/JM
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Rally Ireland is well and truly underway in the North West today as the first of an expected 250,000 spectators braved pouring rain and winds, and freezing temperatures over the rest of the weekend, to view the three-day spectacle, which opens the World rally Championships for 2009.
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Rain clearing away east by early evening with some clear spells but a few showers likely to affect the North coast and other areas towards dawn, remaining breezy and mild overnight. Minimum temperature 9 °C.
