Three in a row for Loeb on love island

A third consecutive victory in this weekend’s Rally of Cyprus, and an incredible eighth win this season, has moved Sébastien Loeb and his Citroen Xsara WRC 35 points clear at the top of the World Rally Championship standings.

Success on the ‘Island of Aphrodite’ extended Loeb’s record career wins to 28 and provided a further 10 manufacturers points for Kronos Total Citroen WRT, who now lead a closely fought manufacturers championship by seven points from the Ford Focus team.

With just four rallies to go this year and a maximum of 40 points on offer for his nearest challenger, Marcus Grönholm, Loeb is within touching distance of a hat-trick of World Rally Championship titles.

Sébastien Loeb commented: “Citroen gathered a lot of data from the [Rally] Acropolis and worked very hard in testing: my Xsara was entirely competitive here compared to its rivals. I hope it will continue to be so over the next four rallies, so that we can win the drivers title and bring the Kronos Total Citroen WRT the maximum number of points in a very open and exciting manufacturer’s championship.”