Wales Rally GB: OMV Kronos final summary

OMV Kronos Citroen WRC wins one point at finale

The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team has completed a very changeful FIA World Rally Championship 2007with eighth overall place by Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor. Thus the OMV pair was able to score points at the British WRC- rally for the fifth time in a row. Even though the 35-year-old Austrian had hoped for more in Wales following last year's second place he is still glad that this season is over. In the WRC final standings he finished in ninth place with 13 points. The victory in Wales went to Mikko Hirvonen (Fin/Ford Focus WRC). Finishing in third place, Sebastien Loeb (F/Citroen C4 WRC) took the WRC-crown for the fourth consecutive time.

With mixed feelings

In his last run in a World Rally Car in the FIA World Rally Championship Manfred Stohl has scored points one more time. The OMV driver took eighth place at the WRC finale, the Wales Rally GB. Thus he finished the WRC in ninth place with 13 points. A result that conjures up very mixed feelings for the 35-year-old Austrian since last year's fourth place had had expectations go up high. Stohl: "Unfortunately nothing went as we had hoped for right from the beginning. During the second half of the season it was additionally very hard to motivate oneself. This season cost a lot of energy. But I still will try my all to be able to pursue my career next year, as well."

Great Wales balance

Beside all his problems Stohl had one major goal at the Wales Rally GB: to finish the rally within scoring ranks. A goal he fulfilled. Eighth place means that the OMV driver has scored points for the fifth time in a row on the isle. Stohl: "That was very important to me since I didn't want to have bad memories of my favourite rally. It was only unfortunate that we couldn't take advantage of the conditions here for whatever reasons."

EUR 139.800 in the OMV Move & Help account

Since this year's season of the OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team was under the sign of OMV Move & Help, EUR 20 were donated to OMV Move & Help for each completed special stage kilometre. At the 16 WRC-runs completed, Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor, Daniel Carlsson/Denis Giraudet and recently in Germany, Spain and Corsica also Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato have taken in 139.800 Euro overall. Move & Help is the educational program by OMV for over 35.000 children and youths in cooperation with SOS Children's Village, Caritas and UNICEF.

Loeb equals Makinen-record

With third overall place at the Wales Rally GB Sebastien Loeb (Citroen C4 WRC) crowned himself World Champion for the fourth consecutive time. Thereby the Frenchman equals Tommi Makinen's (Fin) record who had achieved this feat from 1996 to 1999. The victory at the last run to the FIA World Rally Championship 2007 went to Mikko Hirvonen (Fin/Ford Focus WRC) who celebrated his fourth overall win. Teammate and countryman Marcus Gronholm ended his career with second place. Even though he missed the WRC-title by four points the Finn counts as one of the greatest rally-aces of all times, having won 30 runs and two WRC-titles in 2000 and 2002.

-credit: owrt.com