Sebastien Loeb sets new rallying record

Third place for Loeb's Citroën C4 WRC in Rally Japan, the penultimate round of the 2008 season, was enough to put the title out of reach of his rivals. Loeb and his co-driver, Daniel Elena, now hold a unique record, as their five titles eclipse the previous record of four that they shared with Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Makinen.

Sébastien is now promising to go flat out at the season's finale in three weeks, the Wales Rally GB, to secure the manufacturer's title for Citroën alongside his driver's championship.

"It's a fantastic feeling," beamed Loeb. "I really wanted to wrap up the title in Japan to enable us to go into Wales Rally GB with a totally free mind. That made the weekend very long and frustrating. The title just seemed to loom larger after every stage, but it was well worth the wait in the end."

Loeb and Elena have dominated world rallying since 2004, initially with the Citroën Xsara and, more recently, with the all-conquering C4. The pair has scored 10 wins so far in '08.

Final leaderboard on 5th Rally Japan

1. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus)	3h25min 03s
2. JM. Latvala/ M. Anttila (Ford Focus)	+ 31.1s
3. S. Loeb/ D. Elena (Citroën C4)	+ 2min 30.6s
4. C. Atkinson/ S. ot (Subaru Impreza)	+ 3min 42.4s
5. PG. Andersson/ J. Andersson (Suzuki X4)	+ 5min 12.9s
6. T. Gardemeister/ T. Tuominen (Suzuki X4)	+ 6min 09.4s

FIA World Rally Championship Manufacturer Standings after round 14 of 15

1st Citroën-Total, 175 pts

2nd Ford, 164 points

3rd Subaru, 93 pts

4th Stobart, 64 pts

5th Suzuki, 28 pts

6th Munchi's, 22 pts.

FIA World Rally Championship Driver Standings after round 14 of 15

1st S. Loeb, 112 pts

2nd M. Hirvonen, 102 points

3rd D. Sordo, 59 pts

4th C. Atkinson, 50 pts

5th JM. Latvala, 50 pts

6th P. Solberg, 41 pts