Drivers' title now the focus for the Citroen WRTThe Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of
Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena won ADAC Rallye Deutschland Sunday, claiming their sixth consecutive victory in the event. Loeb's maximum points close the gap, but the Frenchman is
still eight points adrift of series leader Grönholm who had to be content with a fourth place finish.
Citroen WRT team boss Guy Frequelin was happy to see Loeb return to his winning ways, but also happy to see François Duval take the runner-up position in the OMV Kronos Citroen. However, he admitted that the chase for the manufacturers' title may now be over.
"I am very happy for many reasons. First of all for Séb and Daniel, and also for the team, for Citroën, for the German market - which is very important - for François and Patrick, and for Kronos," he explained. "It was very important to win the rally, it was important for François to show that he is still competitive and for Kronos to do a good job and I think it is fantastic for everybody."
While Loeb took top honours for the team and narrowing the deficit to Gronholm to eight points, Dani Sordo was forced out of the event in his Citroen C4.
"Dani's problem was the same as in Finland, it was the cylinder block," Frequelin confirmed.
"We spoke to our supplier about the metallurgy and we must find a solution very quickly. Having a problem like this for two rallies in a row is very unusual. We must dispatch our engine to New Zealand on Friday and we have to solve it."
Sordo's mechanical drama has made it hard for the Citroen squad to challenge rivals BP Ford with a 41 point deficit and just six rounds remaining. Frequelin however is determined to keep on pushing and try to secure the drivers' title with Loeb.
"For the Manufacturers' Championship, it is difficult because of Dani's problems in Finland and here, but the most important thing for us at the moment is the Drivers' Championship," Frequelin explained. "Before the season, we knew that it wouldn't be easy with a young driver like Dani and the problems he had here and in Finland didn't make it any easier."
Source FIA
