Loeb cements position
8 March 2010
Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb played his tactics to perfection on Rally Mexico last weekend, proving just why he has strung together six World Rally Championships in a row.
The Frenchman did not panic when he ended the opening day 40 seconds behind Petter Solberg and instead chose to benefit from a clean track due to his superior road position on the second day to clinch a dominant victory.
His success kept him in a secure third place in the Castrol Rankings, behind Formula 1 aces Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, although his points total did not change. This is because he also won the second round of last year's WRC and discarded that score at the same time.
Significantly for Loeb though, he would have dropped behind Rubens Barrichello and into fourth had he finished just one place further back.
Loeb's predicament is a familiar one this week as the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, NASCAR Sprint Cup and World Touring Car Championship rounds all threw up exactly the same winners as the corresponding races last year.
As a result, the positions of Kris Meeke (75), Kurt Busch (20) and Gabriele Tarquini (58) have all been unaffected, although Busch's points total has dropped as his qualifying performance at Atlanta did not quite match that of 2009.
The only man to win at the weekend, but still drop a place, is Chevrolet WTCC star Yvan Muller (82). This is nothing to do with his Curitiba results, however, but because Sebastien Ogier's superb podium finish on Rally Mexico allowed him to move past a gaggle of rivals and into 79th.
Kimi Raikkonen did move up a spot to 15th, despite the Citroen Junior Team driver's early exit from Rally Mexico. This is because Jeff Gordon, who spent last week ahead of him, slipped down a place after finishing 18th at the Atlanta Sprint Cup race.
A similar turn of events for another Sprint Cup star - Denny Hamlin - dropped him behind Lotus F1 driver Jarno Trulli, who will be hoping to boost his score still further when his season kicks off in Bahrain this weekend.
The two drivers who gained most ground in the top 100 were Petter Solberg, who rose up 11 places to 57th in the Castrol Rankings by virtue of his second place on Rally Mexico, and Chevrolet WTCC ace Rob Huff, up 10 spots to 94th.
The biggest gainer in the Castrol Rankings this week is Hungarian WTCC newcomer Norbert Michelisz. The reigning SEAT Eurocup Champion moved up 552 places following his impressive showing at Curitiba and now lies 1075th.
The most spectacular faller, by contrast, is Brazilian rally driver Oswaldo Scheer, although his drop of 714 places to 1861st is as a result of him not taking part in the IRC-scoring Rally Curitiba and discarding his points from last year at the same time.
The Castrol Rankings is based on drivers' measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol Rankings scores are calculated, click here.
