Rallying: Loeb conquers pain to win in Monte Carlo

Roddy Brooks
Monday 22 January 2007 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The reigning world champion, Sébastien Loeb, overcame the effects of a broken arm to dominate the opening event of his title defence in Monte Carlo yesterday.

The Citroën driver took the opening round of the 2007 World Championship with a comfortable win over his Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo. Loeb had gone into the event feeling the after-effects of a broken arm he sustained last year but drove as if in perfect health.

"I haven't recovered completely - my shoulder is not so strong at the moment," the Frenchman said. "I have yet to recover all the strength in my shoulder, I have difficulty making certain movements."

Loeb dominated from the start, winning six stages out of 15 to beat Sordo by 38.2sec. He took his third win in four years in Monte Carlo and a 29th World Rally Championship victory.

Finland's Marcus Gronholm was third for Ford, over a minute behind Loeb. Gronholm's fellow Finn and Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen led Australia's Chris Atkinson by less than a second going into the final stage but the Subaru driver snatched fourth with an impressive time.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in