Grönholm third in German Rally

Loeb's victory secures him shared number one position for most career wins

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The Finnish drivers' battle for the third position in the Rally of Germany ended with Ford's Marcus Grönholm coming out on top. His countryman Toni Gardemeister, who drives a Citroën for a private team, harassed Grönholm right until the end, but did not quite succeed in knocking the former World Champion off the podium position.
      In the end, the difference between the two was 14.6 seconds.
      Grönholm, in turn, was two minutes and 19.2 seconds slower than the winner, Sébastien Loeb of France.
      Because of the whimsical weather conditions, the German Rally - which is raced on asphalt - proved an agonising race for Grönholm. "I was hoping to challenge Loeb here. The car is great in dry conditions, but we have not tested it on wet asphalt. We had some problems here, and I lost my confidence in the vehicle", Grönholm explained.
     
Gardemeister, who was left without a manufacturers team position this year, only drove his third race of the season in Germany. In Monte Carlo he finished third, and in Greece and Germany he came in fourth.
      At present it looks as though this was Gardemeister's last race of the 2006 season.
      "As far as the World Rally Championships, the future is still open. We'll see. It would be nice to drive something", Gardemeister philosophised.
     
Grönholm's teammate Mikko Hirvonen looked to be heading for 5th spot, but problems with the car battery caused him pick up a time-penalty that left him no higher than ninth in the end.
      "This was a difficult race from the start, and I can't believe it ended like this", said Hirvonen, who currently holds 5th place in the championship table.
     
Frenchman Loeb mastered the difficult conditions of the Rally of Germany the best of the bunch and took his sixth race win of the season.
      With this victory, the Citroën driver rose to the shared number one position for the most wins on the World Rally Championships circuit. Loeb, 32, has now achieved 26 career wins, equalling the record of Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
      Loeb has been invincible in the German Rally since it was included in the rally calendar in 2002. His fifth consecutive victory in the same race was also a record.
      Loeb's Sunday triumph further strengthened the current World Champion's position at the top of this year's championship points table.
      Loeb leads the title race by 33 points, with Grönholm in the runner-up spot.
      There are seven more races left this season.
      Loeb's teammate Daniel Sordo of Spain secured a 1-2 victory for Citroën. In the end Loeb beat Sordo by 33.8 seconds.
      Sordo is number three in the Championship race.
     
The next World Championship race, the Neste Oil Rally, will be raced on the unsurfaced gravel roads of Central Finland this coming weekend.
      Loeb has yet to win in Finland, and Grönholm will naturally be hoping to close the yawning gap between the two men.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Marcus Grönholm recovers to finish third in Catalonia Rally (27.3.2006)

Links:
  World Rally Championship

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