Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena have closed to within a single point of the FIA World Rally Championship lead, thanks to a thrilling victory in Rally Finland, where the Citroën duo became only the third non-Scandinavian pairing ever to win the event.

With Dani Sordo and Marc Marti finishing fourth in the second C4 WRC, Citroën narrowed the gap to Ford in the manufacturers’ standings and now lies just three points behind.

With Finnish drivers having dominated the event for the past 15 years, beating championship rival Mikko Hirvonen to victory – the 42nd in Loeb’s career – was particularly sweet.

“I’m thrilled to have won this rally, and I’m especially pleased with the way we won it,” Loeb said at the finish. “From start to finish, the scrap reminded me of the thrilling clashes we had last year with Marcus Grönholm. It was a very close run thing throughout and we were never able to relax.

“After spending the first two days driving flat out between the trees, I had absolutely no intention of letting our 42nd WRC win slip from our grasp. Today’s victory also means we have met one of the objectives we set ourselves at the start of the season and that’s a particularly satisfying feeling.”
Final leaderboard on 58th Rally Finland* (9/15)  
1. S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroën C4)     2 h 54 min 05.5 s
2. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus)  + 9 s
4. C. Atkinson/S. Prevot (Subaru Impreza)     + 3 min 17 s
4. D. Sordo/M. Martí (Citroën C4)    + 3 min 30.9 s
5. H. Solberg/C. Menkerud (Ford Focus)     + 3 min 57.7 s
6. P. Solberg/P. Mills (Subaru Impreza)  + 3 min 58.7 s

FIA World Rally Championship Manufacturers’ Standings after round 9 of 15*
1. Ford, 108 points – 2. Citroën-Total, 105 pts – 3. Subaru, 62 pts – 4. Stobart, 45 pts – 5. Munchi's, 19 pts – 6. Suzuki, 12 pts.

FIA World Rally Championship Drivers’  Standings after round 9 of 15*
1. M. Hirvonen, 67 points – 2. S. Loeb, 66 pts – 3. C. Atkinson, 37 pts – 4. D. Sordo, 35 pts – 5. JM Latvala, 34 pts – – 6. P. Solberg, 23 pts.

*All results subject to FIA confirmation.