Mitsu did pretty good this rallye. Of course that focus wreck was HORRIBLE.

Oh and yeah am I the only one that things that we need to start using subarus as shovels since they seem to be so good at DIGGING IN.

heh on Speed TV we get one hour per Event and its just an over view. though i love the guys that do the highlight Videos with Rock songs behind them.

i stopped trying to watch it its not worth it.

Finland was quite a good rally, looking forward to germany now though, as tarmac rallys are quality!

I predict a Loeb win at Germany and a Sainz closely behind, after all, Citroen have won it every year since it started and Sebas is a legend on tarmac!

RALLY DEUTSCHLAND UPDATE - Gronholm was fastest in the Shakedown. Loeb, Solberg and Martin were all off form.

Here's the best WRC standings site I've found yet, click. keke

Sebastien Loeb wins a very wet and wild Rally Deutschland for the third consecutive time. He now has a healthy 29 point lead over Markko Martin in the Championship! Marcus Gronholm crashed out on the first corner of the rally in the wet weather conditions and defending champion Petter Solberg became a victim of the Hinkelsteins on Day 2, in a horrific crash, which saw the Subaru flip and roll, sending co-driver Phil Mills being taken to hospital. Duval showed excellent pace on Day's 2 and 3 to beat Carlos Sainz to 2nd place, despite having to change to manual gear shifting, therefore losing his handbrake and having to 3-poin turn all of the hairpins. Markko Martin ended up in 4th after having lost a lot of time on Day 1. Both Mitsubishi's crashed into trees, who will now be taking a break until next season to develop the car further. Cedric Robert was drafted in as point scorer for Peugeot over, Freddy Loix. The two had their own private battle, with Robert coming out on top to take 5th and Loix having to settle for 6th. Roman Kresta showed some promise in the Skoda, getting it up to 5th at one point in the rally, before sliding out and damaging his suspension, however Toni Gardemeister managed to gain 7th position and 2 world championship points. The final points position was taken by Mikko Hirvonen in the Subaru Impreza, who put in a rather lackluster performance, benefitting from all of the retirements.

In a fortnight's time the WRC will be heading to Japan.

Ford World Rally Team co-driver Stéphane Prévot has withdrawn from the Rally Japan following a family bereavement. His position as co-driver for François Duval will be taken by Philippe Droeven.

Thirty-five-year-old Prévot had already arrived in Obihiro to begin preparations for this 11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship but left to return home to Belgium last night.

Forty-two-year-old Droeven, from Belgium, is an experienced co-driver who partnered Duval for three events during the early part of his career. He co- drove for fellow countryman Dominique Bruyneel on many European Championship events between 1998 and 2002. This year he is competing in the French Championship with Emmanuel Guigou.

This will be Droeven's third world rally. He partnered Larry Cols on the 1998 Monte Carlo Rally and Bruyneel on the Catalunya Rally in 2000, retiring on both occasions.

BP-Ford World Rally Team would like to pass on its condolences to Stéphane and his family.

C/O RallyLive.com

I'm looking forward to the coverage that someone will hopefully rip for me...

(I have a friend that'll hopefully be doing it for me.)

Then you'll torrent it, right?

"BEST RALLY CAR EVER!"

drool drool drool Lancia....

Anyone watch the Rally of Japan or were you guys too busy creaming over the Lancia?

Pretty clean event considering the retirements in Germany.

If Sainz retires at the end of this year, I want to see Duval and Loeb as team mates at Citroen, he was unlucky in Japan, but has showed his talents this year. Why is Markko Martin always slow on the first day of the rally now, I know he had a problem with his pace notes, but he was well off the pace in Germany too, but then picked up the pace and won stages on the days after. Solberg looked invincible, when he wasn't even pushing! But I still don't think anyone will touch Loeb for the title.