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The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena today won the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship*. The duo finished third overall on Wales Rally GB, the final round of the series, securing enough points to claim their fourth consecutive world title. The event was won by the BP-Ford World Rally Team crew of Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, their third victory of the season. Despite crashing out of Rally Ireland two weeks ago, team-mates Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen were still in the title fight, but the Finns were largely reliant on Loeb making an error to aid their chances. They finished second in the event and the Championship in their last WRC outing before retirement.
The all-important Manufacturers' Championship was won by Ford after the penultimate round in Ireland.*
The final leg of Wales Rally GB was by no means a cruise to the end. The contenders faced another 114 kilometres of competition over two loops of two stages before the finish in Cardiff this afternoon. Ford Focus driver Jari-Matti Latvala set the forests alight and won all four stages to climb from 12th to 10th by the finish.
Behind the leading trio, the only change in position was between Chris Atkinson and Matthew Wilson. Atkinson held the overnight advantage but leading Briton, Wilson, overhauled him in the first stage today to finish sixth overall.
In the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship, victory went to Japan's Toshihiro Arai, and the FIA Junior Rally Championship was claimed by Swede Per-Gunnar Andersson*.
The FIA World Rally Championship resumes in January 2008 with the famous Rallye Monte-Carlo (25-27 January).
* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA
Wales Rally GB - Final Results
| 1 |
Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
3 hr 22 min 50.9sec |
| 2 |
Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
3 hr 23 min 06.1sec |
| 3 |
Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena |
Citroën C4 WRC |
3 hr 24 min 23.9sec |
| 4 |
Petter Solberg/Phil Mills |
Subaru Impreza WRC |
3 hr 25 min 48.2sec |
| 5 |
Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti |
Citroën C4 WRC |
3 hr 26 min 05.2sec |
| 6 |
Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
3 hr 30 min 23.8sec |
| 7 |
Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot |
Subaru Impreza WRC |
3 hr 31 min 20.4sec |
| 8 |
Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor |
Citroën Xsara WRC |
3 hr 31 min 45.5sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 16 of 16 rounds)
| Sébastien Loeb (F) |
116 points |
| Marcus Grönholm (FIN) |
112 points |
| Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) |
99 points |
| Daniel Sordo (E) |
65 points |
| Petter Solberg (N) |
47 points |
| Henning Solberg (N) |
34 points |
| Chris Atkinson (AUS) |
31 points |
| Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) |
30 points |
| Manfred Stohl (A) |
13 points |
| François Duval (B) |
12 points |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 16 of 16 rounds)
| BP-Ford World Rally Team |
212 points |
| Citroën Total World Rally Team |
183 points |
| Subaru World Rally Team |
87 points |
| Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team |
81 points |
| OMV Kronos Citroën World Rally Team |
45 points |
| Munchi's Ford World Rally Team |
14 points |
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