Citroën's Sébastien Loeb clinched a third consecutive WRC victory at the weekend when he won Rally Cyprus by a whopping four minutes and 9,5 seconds.

Citroën's Sébastien Loeb clinched a third consecutive WRC victory at the weekend when he won Rally Cyprus by a whopping four minutes and 9,5 seconds.


The Frenchman was fastest on every single stage from SS2 to SS15, and it was only during Sunday's final three stages that the defending champion eased his pace.


"Today's stages weren't as rough as Friday's but still a bit more rocky and difficult than yesterday's," Loeb said. "No problem with my Citroën. I drive at a reasonable pace for the car to be easy to drive and I almost go round the stones not to break anything."


Manfred Stohl, a 32-year-old Austrian, scored a career-best second place in a privately-entered Citroën, 32 seconds ahead of the Peugeot 307 WRC of works driver Markko Martin.


Stohl was quick in the early morning stages (SS14, SS15) and matched Martin's pace. With a 50-second gap to Martin, Stohl was able to drive conservatively to ensure a 1-2 Citroën finish.


"I'm not one to show my feelings, but I'm thrilled to bits," Stohl beamed after crossing the finish line. "I am pleased that I succeeded in holding off first Solberg and then Martin. To finish second in such a difficult rally is just incredible!"


Martin, meanwhile, knew that he would have to fight hard to get onto the podium, and to claim eight manufacturers' points for Peugeot (Stohl, being a privateer, did not score manufacturers' points for Citroën). In fourth place at the start of the day, and 18 seconds adrift of Henning Solberg's Ford Focus, the Estonian claimed third position by mid-day and finished with a flourish, scoring a stage win on the penultimate stage.


Solberg, brother of world champion Petter, also scored a career-best finish with a fourth place, in spite of losing time with an electrical problem on SS13.


Behind the privateer Focus at the finish were Ford's two young works drivers, Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta. The two youngsters was solid on the final day - Gardemeister even winning SS16 and SS18 - to secure a 5-6-7 finish for Ford, and some valuable manufacturers' championship points.


Harri Rovanpera took seventh - and four manufacturers' points - for Mitsubishi, while Peugeot privateer Daniel Carlsson claimed the final drivers' championship point, getting past Skoda's Janne Tuohino on the third leg.


The number of privateers in the points allowed Tuohino (ninth) and Gilles Panizzi (eleventh) to still claim precious manufacturers' points for Skoda and Mitsubishi, respectively, even if they were out of the drivers' points.


Marcus Gronholm and Petter Solberg retired from the rally on the first day due to engine failures. Their misfortune allows Loeb to open an 11-point gap to Solberg and Martin in the driver's championship standings.

Original article from Car