TRIER, Germany, 29 July 2003 — Frenchman Sebastien Loeb resisted a late challenge from world champion Marcus Gronholm to win the Rally of Germany for the second consecutive time on Sunday.
Citroen driver Loeb, who won the rally in its world championship debut last year, finished 3.6 seconds ahead of Finn Gronholm’s Peugeot. Gronholm had started a final day featuring six timed stages and again marred by rain 5.5 seconds behind Loeb.
Briton Richard Burns, Gronholm’s Peugeot teammate, took third place 19.7 seconds back to retain the overall lead in the world championship standings.
“Germany is like a second home to me,” said the 29-year-old Loeb, who comes from the Alsace region, near the German border.
“It was very close,” added the Frenchman, who started the final timed stage with a 13-second lead on Gronholm.
“I had to take risks but I also had to be careful to avoid a costly mistake. It was difficult to find the right balance.”
Loeb, who had demonstrated his skills on difficult terrain by winning the Monte Carlo Rally in January, mastered constantly changing surfaces and levels of grip to record his second victory of the year.
The rally, around Trier, in western Germany, marked the start of the second half of the season, with the focus switching from gravel to asphalt and from reliability to outright speed.
Burns, still chasing his first win of the year, now leads the standings on 43 points with Citroen driver Carlos Sainz of Spain, who came sixth in Germany, second four points back.
Gronholm was third a further point adrift with Loeb fourth, 10 points off the lead.
The title race remains wide open with six rallies remaining. The next round is in Finland from Aug. 7-10.
