Sebastien Loeb claimed his seventh successive World Rally Championship in style yesterday as he won the Rally France.
The Frenchman's 60th career rally victory sealed his latest title as he stretched his lead over compatriot Sebastien Ogier to 60 points with only a maximum of 50 left to be won in the remaining two rallies of the season in Spain and Britain. The 36-year-old won his home event by 35.7 seconds from Dani Sordo, his Citroen teammate, and he said of his success: "This is the best result for me to win the championship here in France."
He added: "This is fantastic. This has been a very impressive rally. It has been very difficult and I didn't expect so many people to be here." Loeb has won every championship since 2004 and will target an eighth next season before he retires. A Citroen podium clean sweep was completed by Petter Solberg, with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi cars of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen completing the top five.
Meanwhile, Jorge Lorenzo has moved another step closer to becoming the new Moto GP champion as he finished fourth in yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix. The Spanish motorcyclist now leads Dani Pedrosa, who missed the race in Motegi after breaking his collarbone in practice, by 69 points and can take the title at next weekend's race in Malaysia. Casey Stoner won the race on his Ducati ahead of Honda's Andrea Dovizioso.
* Compiled by Graham Caygill with agencies
