Sebastien Loeb took the lead of the rally and was on course to keep it going into Day 3. He entered the final stage of Day 2 the longest stage of the rally, and picked up a puncture. The time lost cause him to loose his lead to team mate Ogier. The advantage Ogier held over his team mate going into Day 3 was too great for Loeb to take back the lead. in just 4 stages.
The Mini World Rally Team were able to claim there first podium since entering the Wrc. Dani Sordo was locked in battle with Fords Mikko Hirvonen for third place. Both fought very hard but having gone off the road in SS16, overshot a junction in SS17 and sustained a puncture in the final stage Mikko couldnt fight hard enough to overtake Sordo and steal the final Podium spot.
Kris explained the day;
"The day (Sunday) started out as going to be a bit of a battle with Petter Solberg. We held him in the first one and then on the second we had a little error on the pace note side as the note I had made on the recce was a little bit optimistic and I missed my braking point and lost ten seconds there. After lunch it was very wet and there was only a second between myself and Petter on the first stage, and then on the next about halfway through the car started to cut out on me, eventually stopped completely and there was nothing we could do. It was quite clear it was an electrical issue as there was no power to the control box inside the car. It was traced to just a little wire that had come off and it was one of those things."Unfortunate Solberg was plagued with punctures early in the rally.Norwegian Petter Solberg then inherited Fifth place after Meeke's problems.
Kimi Raikkonen claimed six position in Germany, a strong finish for the Fin.
When the crews took to Trier for the 4.37 kilometre Circus Maximus Power Stage, Seb Loeb made up for losing 1st place by setting the fastest time and taking away the three bonus points. Team mate and eventual rally Germany winner Sebastien Ogier took away two extra points, fifth place Petter Solberg took away the final one point.
After the rally,
Sebastien Loeb continues to lead the drivers Championship.
Victory in Germany means Sebastien Ogier has moved ahead of Mikko Hirvonen.
In the manufacturers Championship, Citroen continue to head the field 90 points ahead of Ford.
Another win in Germany means Citroen are now the most successful manufacturer in wrc with 78 wins.
The Championship now takes the crews to the gravel roads in New South Wales for Rally Australia (8-11 September).
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