- Rival Thierry Neuville makes a mistake just before the finish
Munich/Trier, 25 August 2013 – Daniel Sordo wins the 2013 ADAC Rallye Deutschland and thus claims his maiden victory in the world championship. On the final leg, the Spanish Citroën driver managed to extend his lead of only 0.8 seconds over Thierry Neuville to 53 seconds. Belgian Neuville made a slight error just before the finish of the almost 25 kilometres long final stage Dhrontal: “I pushed it to the max and came off the road just before the end, but the risk was worth it.” Spaniard Sordo reacted in a cool way. “I was very nervous at the start, but I felt much more relaxed after seeing Thierry’s split time.” Finally Mikko Hirvonen took third place overall.
Thus, Daniel Sordo, who had already finished second 20 times in the 106 world championship rallies he has contested during his career to date, finally managed to score his maiden world championship rally win. In the eleven years of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland as a round of the World Rally Championship, Daniel Sordo only becomes the third overall winner after his team-mates Sébastien Loeb (9 victories) and Sébastien Ogier (1 victory). The Citroën team itself now has scored eleven world championship rally wins in Germany.
On the four days of the event, approximately 200,000 spectators came to watch the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, from the start at the Cologne cathedral to the new routes in the Eifel to the special stages in the vineyards around Trier and at the Arena Panzerplatte.
Unofficial final standings after 15 special stages:
1. Sordo/Del Barrio ESP/ESP Citroën DS3 WRC 3:15.19.4 hrs.
2. Neuville/Gilsoul BEL/BEL Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 53.0 sec.
3. Hirvonen/Lehtinen FIN/FIN Citroën DS3 WRC + 2.36.1 min.
4. Prokop/Ernst CZE/CZE Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 8.00.8 min.
5. Kubica/Baran POL/POL Citroën DS3 RRC + 9.01.3 min.
6. Evans/Barritt GBR/GBR Ford Fiesta R5 + 9.14.2 min.
7. Latvala/Anttila FIN/FIN Volkswagen Polo R WRC + 9.55.0 min.
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14. Wiegand/Christian DEU/DEU Skoda Fabia S2000 + 23.02.7 min.
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16. Ogier / Ingrassia FRA/FRA Volkswagen Polo R WRC + 26.48.3 min.
2013 FIA World Rally Championship standings after 9 of 13 rounds:
Drivers: 1. Ogier 184, 2. Neuville 109, 3. Latvala 98, 4. Sordo 96, 5. Hirvonen 88, 6. Loeb 68 pts.
Manufacturers: 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 262, 2. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT 236, 3. Qatar WRT 127, 4. Qatar M-Sport WRT 126, 5. Jipocar Czech National Team 51, 6. Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT 37 pts.