WRC Great Britain

Loeb scores his sixth driver's title and in the process demonstrates why he has six to his name and his nearest rival is still just a contender.

Hirvonen's rally started well but by the end of day one, Loeb had already taken a 4 second lead. Hirvonen's day two was very troubling. He was way off the pace which left him 30 seconds behind Loeb. Hirvonen was back in form on day three, but he was pushing too hard and damaged the bonnet on a jump. Forced to slow down, and then eventually to stop and remove the bonnet, Hirvonen lost 1 minute which destroyed any chance of the win and the title. But Loeb also had problems on day three. A failing turbo caused him to slow dramatically but Hirvonen was no longer close enough to capitalized on it.

At the beginning of the season I predicted that Loeb would run away with championship. And he would have done so if he, and the Citroen team, hadn't made a few mistakes which presented Hirvonen and Ford an opportunity. However, before that opportunity arose, Hirvonen was not driving well at all. Hirvonen only started driving like the championship contender that he is, after Loeb showed that he is also fallible.

Unfortunately, the Hirvonen from the beginning of the season returned on day two of the rally. And it was day two that actually cost Hirvonen the win and the title. The team changed everything on car that they could, looking for a problem and found... nothing. Which means the lack of speed was only in Hirvonen's head. There is no doubt that he is has the skills to be champion, but mentally he is not quite ready yet. He is very, very close though, so maybe next year.