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.

WRC Spain

What we learned in Spain is that Hirvonen is no match for Loeb on sealed surfaces. Not even close. In fact Hirvonen was a little concerned for his third position, as a very racy Petter Solberg, driving a 2008 C4, kept up the pressure until the end. Hirvonen's third place reduced his lead in the championship to only one point so he has to score more points than Loeb in Britain to win the title. Ha! Easier said than done!

Sordo drove impressively all weekend and it was such a pity that he had to concede the lead to help with Loeb's championship fight. Sordo looks ready for his first WRC win but with driver's championship so tight that opportunity will likely have to wait until next year.

Petter Solberg was in a really feisty mood and racked up a string of stage wins, almost like he had something to prove. He even gave a defiant "Up yours!" to all who doubted he still has the speed. He had the biggest grin on his face when he said it, so he was having a great time. I think he may have another championship in him if given a competitive car, which sadly he never had at Subaru.

Looking forward to rally GB, it going to be awesome!

WRC Australia

If I ignore Citroen's technical irregularities, this was a really good rally. Loeb was was definitely back on form and Sordo seemed to be driving better than Hirvonen. Wait, that doesn't sound right.

Several times during the rally, I wondered how come Hirvonen was suddenly fighting with Sordo for second place. And he was working really hard for it too, with several scary moments which, I must say, he recovered in an almost Loeb-esque style.

While the Citroen insist that the different part had no effect on the performance, it might explain how Sordo could suddenly becoming Hirvonen's equal. However, I doubt that they would have done it intentionally and then expected it to pass the scrutineers. So it was more likely a mistake but one that could very well cost Loeb the championship. At the beginning of the season, I predicted Loeb would run away with it. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Henning Solberg was asked, how difficult is it driving without a windscreen? It's easier with the windscreen, he deadpans. But at least there was no snow this time. It's the third time he has lost the windscreen this season, so he has been getting a lot of practice driving without one.

And finally, Petter Solberg is back for the final two rallies in a 2008 C4! This is going to be great!

WRC Finland

Hirvonen drove a terrific rally to get his first win at his home event. If he keeps driving like this for the rest of the season, the championship fight is going to go to last rally. Loeb was in hot pursuit until a pothole on day two damaged a wheel and he lost some time. He tried to recover, but he decided to play it safe and settled for second when it became obvious that Hirvonen was completely in control.

Finland has some spectacular jumps. On day two Novikov hit a jump way too hard which sent the car flying so high, that it started to flip backwards in the air. The in-car footage is just plain scary as the trees fall out of view until all you see is the sky! Novikov was lucky to get away that that. He wasn't so lucky later in the same stage when he hit tree, which ended his rally. Actually, that was his second encounter with a tree... He really wasn't having a good rally.

Kimi Raikkonen took a break from F1 and drove his first WRC in a Group N car. He did quite well but car trouble limited his performance. Unfortunately he lost it on stage 19 and rolled the car which ended his rally.

The rest of the season is going to be very exciting, assuming it is a straight fight to the end with nothing going wrong for either Loeb or Hirvonen. But this is rallying, so expect the unexpected.

WRC Poland

Poland was insanely fast and extremely tricky in some sections. The rally was new for everyone so good pace notes were very important. This was demonstrated in stage 4 when Loeb hit a well hidden tree stump that no one if the Citroen team had in their notes. With Loeb's bad luck continuing, Hirvonen had a great opportunity for another win and take the lead in the championship.

Hirvonen really delivered on day 2 with some impressive driving. Despite having difficult road conditions he kept pushing and managed to maintain his lead. In third place the charging Sordo touched 197 km/h in one section, just crazy, crazy fast. The three way battle for fourth between Ogier and the Solberg brothers was some of the best rallying I've seen this season. On stage 13 Petter stormed past his brother to take fifth and was just under 8 seconds behind Ogier.

Sordo's charge was halted on stage 14 because his notes used a marker that was not there in the rally, and so missed a braking point. Luckily he was able to continue. Also on stage 14 Petter Solberg developed an oil leak which halted his attack on Ogier. Ogier in turn had mechanical trouble on stage 16 which ended his rally and the fight fourth was over.

With Sordo out of the picture, Ford looked set for another one-two finish. Unbelievably, Latvala crashes in the 2km super special stage, breaks his steering, and goes out of the rally! Latvala was regaining his confidence and showing some really good pace the last few rallies, so this mistake will affect him well past this rally.

All-in-all Poland was an exciting rally, the best so far this season. Loeb had it all his way at the beginning, but now suddenly Hirvonen is the new leader of the driver's championship. Hirvonen looks re-energized and it shows in his driving. Really looking forward to the rest of season now.

WRC Greece

After a rare but costly mistake by Loeb on day 2, the rally was Hirvonen's to lose. Given the reputation of this rally being a real car breaker, it was never a sure thing, but for once Hirvonen's luck held and he achieved his first win of the season. With Loeb not scoring any points, Hirvonen is now only only seven points behind in the driver's championship. Suddenly, Hirvonen has a fighting chance again but the real question is, does Hirvonen have the skills to match Loeb?

Accidents in any motor sport are always scary but WRC always seems much worse because there are no sand traps and safety barriers to scrub off speed and absorb energy. Loeb's mistake sent him off the road at such high speed the that the car easily tumbled at least another 200m before coming to a stop. The car barrel rolled 5 times and yet both Loeb and Elana were complete unscathed. WRC cars are strong!

Petter Solberg's bad luck has definitely returned. The right front suspension failed on day 1 but he managed to continue even though the crew did not have the correct bolts at the temporary service. On day 2, after Loeb crashed, Solberg found himself in second place. In keeping with his style, Solberg decided to push for the win and broke the left front suspension. Despite a fantastic effort to temporarily repair the damage and make it back to normal service, he had to retire because he didn't have the spare parts. This is the first hint of the budget difficulties Solberg must be facing if he is missing critical spares like that.

WRC Italy

WRC lessons from Sardinia:

• Tactics don't always pay off.
• Loeb also has bad rallies.
• Sometimes being first on the road is good thing.

I was impressed that the team let Latvala take the win but I suppose the 29 second lead was a little difficult to erase. Latvala deserved it, though. He drove faultlessly the entire rally.

So how do you change a tire in under a minute? You undo your safety harness before the car stops, that's how. Unfortunately, that's against the regulations and Loeb received a whopping 2 minute penalty. I assume that the penalty is so severe due to safety concerns. Both Loeb and Elena should know better.

Loeb's penalty gifted Petter Solberg with third place. Solberg actually did quite well despite having trouble with overheating. An upgraded intercooler didn't work so well for him. The car also had mechanical differentials which didn't sound like an upgrade to me but it didn't raise any complaints from Petter.

When Henning Solberg's bonnet flew off, I was surprised that it didn't hit the windscreen. I wonder if the hood is designed to detach like that, or was that just really good luck?

WRC Argentina

Day 1 of WRC Argentina was a great fight, with the lead changing several time between four drivers. Hirvonen drove really well and it looked like he had finally found that extra speed needed to challenge Loeb. It was shaping up to be the best rally of the season so far.

Sadly, Hirvonen had a technical problem on day 2 which squashed any hope for an exciting rally. Hirvonen had finished consistently and was only 10 points behind Loeb before Argentina. Hirvonen desperately needed a win to keep his championship hopes alive and it showed in how hard he pushed on day 1. He will have to dig a lot deeper to have any chance now.

It looks like Petter Solberg's luck finally ran out when he had a technical failure on day 3, which cost him a third place podium finish. Somebody, anybody, give him a competitive car, please! Solberg is basically carrying the Xsara and is probably pushing the car way too hard for its own good.

WRC Portugal

Loeb makes a rare mistake! Then Sorda makes exactly the same error on the second run through the same road. Maybe they are sharing pace notes or something. By day 2, Loeb was back in the lead and never looked back. Granted Loeb's mistake was small, but Hirvonen's inability to capitalize on the error must be a little frustrating.

Latvala's crash was terrifying. Its been a while since we've had cars rolling down the mountainside. Thankfully both Latvala and his co-driver walked away from the wreck which is a testament to how strongly the cars are built.

Petter Solberg finished well again. I'm surprised by how consistently he is scoring points in an older car. The cynic in me wonders if that's more of an indication of the lack of competition this year.

It was interesting to see Gronholm back in a car. The Subaru he droving had some improvements since last year and was very fast. This suggests Subaru is still developing the car even though they are not racing. Unfortunately, Gronholm was a little rusty and threw away a podium finish on a small error. Silly Gronholm. ;-)

Unless Hirvonen can improve his game, my prediction of Loeb winning all the races this year is looking entirely possible. This is unfortunate as it makes the racing much less interesting.