United Kingdom, Nov 11: Citroen put team interests before personal ambition and ordered Loeb to ease off to make sure of the manufacturers' title. The Frenchman, the only other driver to win stages in Britain, finished 43.6 seconds behind Solberg to end the season with 71 points to the Norwegian's 72. Citroen ended the year with 160 points to Peugeot's 145.
It was a remarkable performance from a driver who started the season-ending rally one point behind Citroen's championship leader Sebastien Loeb.
Solberg's romp to victory capped a dream season for a man who could easily have been ruled out of the championship altogether last month when he almost careered off a cliff in Corsica while preparing for a race that he ended up winning. He was saved by a telegraph pole then and that luck continued in Britain as he suffered a high-speed blowout and a jarring impact with a pothole.


Bureau Report