Sebastien Loeb soared into rallying's stratosphere when he won the Rally d'Italia for the third time in four years - and gained his 40th victory on a World rally. It wasn't easy, however. Conditions were unpredictable and surface grip was forever changing and the Citroen driver was forever hounded by the Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala. Sebastien's teammate Dani Sordo was stricken by recurring traction problems and unable to give his leader full support. Citroen Total and the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team ended the rally scoring the same total number of points, meaning the Fords are still seven points ahead, while Loeb reduced Hirvonen's lead in the Drivers' series to three points. Fastest driver of the rally, however, was Latvala, but his chances of victory were ended by a puncture on the second day.

Sardinia seems to be just another gravel rally but it represented some challenges that were unique. Firstly, this was an event which many of the top drivers could not remember competing in the rain. There were heavy rain storms in the days before the start, while the forecast was for a dry event, which begged the question what would the conditions be like, and especially to what extent the surfaces on the stages would have suffered from the softening effect of the rain. Secondly, came the uncertainties how the Pirelli control tyres would withstand the conditions which traditionally have been intensely abrasive. All this was in addition to a lack of World Rally Car experience of rallying without mousses. There was one further unknown. The total tyre allocation did not take into account the number of tyre-changing points en route, so that at one point in the rally, the teams would be forced into fitting used tyres instead of new tyres. Crews found they could drive considerably further on a flat tyre, before the tyre left the rim, than they ever could have done in the past. It all bodes well for the forthcoming rougher gravel events in Greece and Turkey.

Everything pointed to another classic Ford versus Citroen battle and we were not disappointed. Latvala shot into the lead on the first stage then slid into a bank which caused a tyre to deflate on the second. This let Citroen's Sebastien Loeb into a lead which he held to the end. He could take nothing for granted. "I was second car on the road on Day 1 and first car the rest of the event. It was completely unpredictable how the roads would clear away the loose gravel, on the first pass. When we came to the second passes, sometimes the road got better, sometimes the conditions would be even worse." In the manufacturers championship the performance of the number two drivers were as significant as the teams leaders. Citroen, number two driver Dani Sordo was struggling with traction problems, unable to give Loeb as much championship support as Citroen needed. Although the Citroens were neatly running 1-2 on the Friday, the Spaniard started to drop back on the Saturday, letting the two Ford drivers into second and third place. But who was Ford's number one? Latvala, who only one year previous had led a world rally for the first time, was showing clearly that the fastest Ford driver was not necessarily Mikko Hirvonen, especially as the older Finn struggled to make good times early on. After his stage two mishap, Latvala was proving quite the fastest driver on the event. His puncture had dropped him to 14th, by Friday evening he was seventh. By midday Saturday he was third, behind Hirvonen, and by the end of Day 2 he was equal second. Much of the championship hopes of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team, in fact rested on the shoulders of the Stobart team driver, Gigi Galli who they needed to stay in fourth place, in order to reduce the number of points which Sordo could gain. Galli was going well, but was feeling hampered by Stobart's traditional lack of pre-event testing. "When you do not test beforehand, it takes you a day before you get back up to competitive speed." This was exactly what his Stobart team predecessor Latvala had noted last year. Matthew Wilson, this time running as the official number two Stobart driver, had a brand new car, and it took a long time before the set up was adjusted to suit him.

The Stewards decided Latvala's first stage win meant he was to be second car running on the road on Day 3 behind Loeb, therefore suffering worse road conditions than Hirvonen. Once again the conditions were unpredictable and inconsistent. Loeb lost a lot of time on the first stage and it momentarily looked as if he would lose the lead but then he pulled back on the second. Hirvonen was able to pull ahead of Latvala, who suffered a bad vibration after hitting a rock. Even three stages from the end any one of the top three drivers could win, quite amazing. Finally the order was Loeb, Hirvonen and Latvala

Subarus were once again the also-rans, though Petter Solberg by virtue of a favourable running order, was lying a promising third place by the end of Friday, despite brake problems. Then it all went wrong. Solberg punctured and had to stop and change his tyre in a stage, then on the next stage he had to stop when the bonnet flew up and obscured his screen. It was a disaster. Brake problems continued until the end of the event, while the team looked on mystified. In addition, shock absorber troubles slowed their cars once more, an embarrassment of such magnitude that the crews were ordered never to talk about the dampers to outsiders. Chris Atkinson struggled on and settled for sixth which in the circumstances was most presentable. Suzuki for a long time really looked good. At midday on Friday both Toni Gardemeister and PG Andersson had delays because of hydraulic troubles, and by midday on Saturday the cars were lying ninth and tenth. Gardemeister then had to stop with suspension collapse, he restarted for the final day but retired when an electrical cable burned out. Andersson went on to give the team one point.

The Junior championship provided excitement at an amazing level. Patrik Sandell initially led in a Renault Clio S1600 then Citroen driver Martin Prokop went ahead. Prokop held the lead until near the end of Saturday when Suzuki driver Michal Kosciuszko, who had never before won a JWRC event, went ahead. At the end of the second day Kosciuszko led Prokop by 0.5 second! Kosciuszko then gained a huge lead when Prokop had fuel problems near the end of the event. Sebastien Ogier, winner in Mexico and Jordan, started steadily but punctured, went off the road, damaged his car and withdrew for the rest of the first day. He restarted, gradually regained lost ground and ended up fifth behind Bettega's Clio R3, and the Citroens of Aaron Burkart and Shaun Gallagher. Sandell was lying third when he lost a wheel and Kosciuszko's teammate Jaan Molder lost stages because of a heavy landing had broken his engine sump. Ogier still heads the Junior series, in front of Kosciuszko and Gallagher.

3mmm
photo1: Citroen Loeb
photo2: Ford Latvala
photo3: Ford Galli
photo4: Suzuki Kosciuszko