Loeb lands first win of season

Date published : 07 Mar 2010 - 20:20:53

Sebastien Loeb claimed his first victory of the season as he eased home ahead of his rivals on the final leg of the Mexico Rally.

The reigning six-time champion did all the hard work yesterday as he built up a lead of almost a minute, meaning the Frenchman just had to keep his Citroen C4 out of trouble over Sunday's final three stages to claim the win by 24.2 seconds.

Loeb's victory moves him to the top of the drivers' standings at the expense of Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who won the opener in Sweden but could manage just fourth place here after a weekend of struggle.

Privateer Citroen driver Petter Solberg, the rally leader after Friday's opening leg, held off the considerable challenge of Citroen Junior's Sebastien Ogier to take second place by just one second after a superb race-long duel.

Solberg finally made sure of second after finishing ahead of Ogier in the final super-special stage, by which point all bets were off over who would claim the overall victory.

"Finally a victory and back in the lead of the championship," said Loeb after his 55th world rally triumph.

"It was important after Sweden to win here. It's only the start of the championship but I'm really happy. We had a really good drive yesterday. Now it's looking good.

"I was just breezing through the last couple of stages trying to keep my concentration. It's a good victory; I'm back in the lead of the championship and the points we lost in Sweden we've won back - that's important."