Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has vowed to give it his 'best shot' on the final two events in Ireland and GB as he looks to try and beat Marcus Gronholm and secure his fourth drivers' title in succession.
Loeb, who had an excellent opportunity this weekend in Japan to move ahead of his rival and re-take the initiative after the Finn went off early on, was unable to capitalise though, after he also ended up on the sidelines.
Going into day 2, Seb trailed eventual winner, Mikko Hirvonen by around 10 seconds and there was hardly anything between them in SS11 and SS12. On SS13 it all went pear-shaped however, when his co-driver, Daniel Elena called out the wrong pace note and they slid off the road and were unable to re-join.
That incident ended his challenge for honours in the 'Land of the Rising Sun' and while he could re-start on Sunday and tested some bits for Wales Rally GB, engine problems forced him out again in the penultimate test.
"Along with the Citroën Sport technical staff, we decided to re-start today to profit from the last leg to work on the set-up of our C4 WRC because the conditions were similar to what we can expect in Wales,” he explained.
“Daniel and I have already put yesterday's mistake behind us though. We are fully aware of the challenge that awaits us if we want to defend our title. The fight is by no means over and we give it our very best shot on the last two rounds of the season."
Citroen team boss, Guy Frequelin meanwhile was also pretty philosophical about the weekend and Seb's missed chance to regain ground on Gronholm.
“It would obviously have been better had Sébastien and Daniel been able to benefit fully from Marcus Grönholm's retirement. But since they retired, too, the situation at the top of the points table hasn't changed, except for the fact that there are now only two events still to come.
“Seb and Daniel will have to win both of the remaining rounds if they want to win the title. Everything is still possible. We all know we face a big challenge but everyone at Citroen Sport is ready to do their utmost to pull it off," Frequelin summed-up.
