Sebastien Ogier triumphs in Germany as Sebastien Loeb's winning streak ends
Sebastien Ogier ended Sebastien Loeb's unbeaten Rallye Deutschland run by cruising to an easy win after the world champion suffered a puncture while leading at the end of day two.
Prior to this year, Loeb had won every time the German event had featured on the World Rally Championship calendar, notching up eight triumphs to date.
He looked set for number nine as he established a small lead over Ogier in the first half of the event, with Citroen then instructing its drivers to hold station as they had pulled out a big lead over their rivals.
But Loeb then lost over a minute with the puncture on Saturday's closing Panzerplatte stage, leaving Ogier to collect his fourth win of 2011.
"We knew before the start that it's a rally where my team-mate is so strong, and we got the victory, so it's a perfect weekend," said Ogier.
Loeb, who was at least able to pick up bonus points for winning the power stage, was sanguine about his winning run ending.
"It cannot be perfect every year," he said. "It's what I've said every year - one day it will stop. We did a good rally. We were a bit unlucky yesterday and there was nothing we could do for that."
Dani Sordo gave the new Mini project its first podium with an outstanding third place. He had gained the position as the works Fords suffered various issues - starting with an errant tyre choice for a damp Friday stage and then punctures for both cars - and then had enough pace to stay comfortably clear of fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen.
Sordo's Mini team-mate Kris Meeke battled for fifth with Petter Solberg's Citroen for most of the weekend, until he had to retire with a loss of power just two stages from the end.
Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala was hampered by punctures, an engine problem and a Saturday crash, and finally made it to the finish in 14th.
Kimi Raikkonen took his best result of 2011 so far in sixth, winning a rally-long contest with Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg. Dennis Kuipers had been in this fight too until his FERM Ford picked up a puncture. Armindo Araujo scored his first points since switching to a WRC Mini in eighth.
Results after SS19:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 3h32m15.9s
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 39.8s
3. Dani Sordo Mini + 1m55.6s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 2m43.7s
5. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 3m48.0s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 7m24.6s
7. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 7m45.9s
8. Armindo Araujo Italia Mini + 9m29.8s
9. Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen + 10m01.6s
10. Dennis Kuipers FERM Ford + 10m09.0s
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