Sebastien Loeb was impressed by the performance of the latest generation World Rally Cars during his comeback test with Citroen racing on Tuesday.

The nine-time world champion drove the French manufacturer’s C3 on asphalt and told wrc.com afterwards: “The feeling was really good. It was impressive how fast it is in the fast corners compared to an old World Rally Car.”

Loeb was partnered by regular co-driver Daniel Elena for the test in the Moselle region of France, near Strasbourg. After heavy rain in the morning, conditions improved in the afternoon to allow Loeb to experience the car on dry roads also.

“The feeling on the dry Tarmac at the end was really fast. I do not have a lot of cars to compare, but compared to the old WRCs, everything is a little bit better,” he said.

“It was difficult to get the feeling in the wet conditions in the morning. It was raining a lot and the tyres were really hard for those conditions. The car is more nervous than an old WRC, so that made it quite complicated, but at the end of the day the feeling in the dry was very good.”

Loeb provided plenty of feedback to Citroen Racing team principal Yves Matton and his engineers and urged the team to work on the C3’s driveability.

“The first feeling was that it was a bit of a racing car on a rally stage. When it’s full dry, it’s fast and efficient, but in tricky conditions it would be nice to improve a bit the driveability and make it easier to drive,” explained the 43-year-old.

Loeb denied the test could be the start of a WRC comeback with Citroën, for whom he dominated the championship between 2004 and 2012. He scored 78 wins and his last appearance was at the 2015 Rallye Monte-Carlo.

“The plan was just to come here to test the car. For me it was a good opportunity to discover the new WRC cars and for Citroën it was an opportunity to have my comments about the car, with my experience of general rally.

“At the moment we do not have any plan for the future,” added Loeb, who currently drives with PSA stablemate Peugeot in world rallycross and cross-country rallies.

source: wrc.com

Esapekka Lappi regained the lead of Rally Finland on Saturday afternoon when team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala retired.

Latvala had won all five speed tests today in his Toyota Yaris to overhaul Lappi and build a 8.5sec advantage. But Latvala’s car ground to a halt just before the midpoint of the famous Ouninpohja special stage and his dreams of a fourth win on his home rally were over.

“Unfortunately I saw the number on the rear window as I drove by,” said Lappi, who started the stage after his fellow Finn. “I didn’t want to be leading like this, it’s really a shame. It’s not nice.”

Television images showed Latvala beating the steering wheel of his Yaris as the car cruised to a stop. It was eventually pushed down an access road.

Speculation suggested a possible electrical problem but there was no confirmation from Toyota.

Latvala’s demise ruined Toyota’s hopes of a 1-2-3 finish. Juho Hänninen climbed to second in another Yaris, 54.1sec behind Lappi, but the fight for second and third was a tight one.

Teemu Suninen was 4.3sec behind in a Ford Fiesta, as Finns continued to fill the top three places, and Elfyn Evans was just 6.2sec adrift in a similar car in fourth.

Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville completed the top six, title challenger Neuville’s potential haul of points steadily improving after a torrid weekend in his Hyundai i20.

“We made some changes but the grip levels are higher and the car is going much better in these conditions. In the slippery stages we can still lose time. I enjoyed this one, it’s probably the best stage in the world,”he said.

Ott Tänak was up to eighth in his Fiesta, despite overshooting a chicane in Ouninpohja.

Esapekka Lappi won Rally Finland on Sunday afternoon to claim his maiden World Rally Championship success.

The 26-year-old Finn survived a late scare after breaking a wheel on his Toyota Yaris to win by 36.0sec on only his fourth start at the WRC’s highest level.

Elfyn Evans won a thrilling battle for second in his Ford Fiesta. He edged Juho Hänninen by 0.3sec, after Teemu Suninen spun out of the runners-up position in the penultimate speed test.

Ott Tänak won the final live TV Power Stage to claim five bonus points in a Fiesta. Evans took four points for second, while Thierry Neuville secured three in a Hyundai i20. Jari-Matti Latvala and Hänninen, both driving Yaris cars, took two and one point respectively.

More to follow

Jari-Matti Latvala set a string of four fastest times during Saturdaymorning’s loop of stages to reclaim the lead of Rally Finland and head an impressive Toyota one-two-three on the team’s home event.

He heads last night’s leader Esapekka Lappi by 7.8 seconds at the mid-leg service with Juho Hänninen, in the third Yaris WRC, climbing from fifth to third. 

After the longest day of the rally yesterday, today’s route takes in two loops of four stages, including the legendary Ouninpohja where cars just fly from jump to jump in the most spectacular fashion.

Latvala, who is on supreme form, was on the pace from the outset and slashed the gap to Lappi in the first stage, his young team-mate once again cautious in the opening stage of the day. In the following stage Latvala took the advantage and maintained his lead to top a dream result for the team.

Lappi has been unable to match the pace but the young Finn’s performance continues to be outstanding in only his fourth event in the car. Whether he will push this afternoon to try and re-take the lead remains to be seen. Hänninen has run wide a couple of times but was able to move into fourth when Craig Breen spun in SS15. He then also benefitted when third-placed Teemu Suninen missed a chicane in the following stage and lost over 20 seconds.

Suninen’s fourth position sees the Finns lock out the top of the leaderboard and but for missing the chicane, he has avoided problems. Elfyn Evans has had a far better run today after set-up changes last night, the Welshman moving from seventh to fifth and, like Suninen, is battling for the final podium position. Breen continues to struggle; he overshot a junction in the first stage, had a spin in the next and is finding it impossible to commit and find a rhythm.

He has now dropped to sixth. Thierry Neuville’s rally is also getting no better and the Belgian has only moved one position up the leaderboard to seventh, making little inroads on the potential he had to slash the points deficit to Sébastien Ogier.

The Frenchman did not re-start this morning, co-driver Julien Ingrassia suffering mild concussion following their accident yesterday. Kris Meeke is languishing behind too; after damaging the steering yesterday, he has somehow carried an issue with it into today and will doubtless be happy to put his Rally Finland outing behind him on Sunday.

Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo round off the top 10 with Mads Østberg dropping to 11th after going off the road, damaging the suspension and picking up brake issues. Hayden Paddon retired for the second time this weekend after hitting a rock and breaking the suspension on the Hyundai.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, three out of four stage wins keeps Jari Huttunen in the lead ahead of Quentin Gilbert and Tom Cave. Nicolas Ciamin continues to top the Junior standings having also won three stages.