Sebastien Loeb has given Guy Frequelin the perfect send-off as
Citroen Sport team boss after surviving treacherous conditions on Wales Rally GB to take a fourth successive World Rally Championship title.
The Frenchman found himself involved in a title fight that went right to the wire for the first time following a titanic battle throughout the year with Marcus Gronholm, with the advantage swinging from one driver to the other throughout the campaign.
Going into the season finale however, it was Loeb who held the advantage after his win in Ireland - allied to a retirement for Gronholm - left him with a six point lead over the Finn.
Safe in the knowledge that fifth place would get the job done even if Gronholm won his final WRC event, Loeb approached the event driving with one eye on the title and he admitted that he was delighted to secure a fourth straight title.
"It's just fantastic!" he said. "Finishing third today after such a frustrating rally means we are the world champions for the fourth year running.
"The challenge we faced before the start was not as simple as all that. We have been fighting to make it back to the top of the championship ever since the day we went off in Sardinia but we always believed we would succeed. The combination of the Citroen C4's potential on all the different types of surface that make up the championship and the excellent work put in by everyone at Citroen Sport kept us in the chase and it's really great to have pulled it off today!"
Loeb added that his title success was the most difficult he has been involved in thus far and said that, while he was a little sad to prevent Gronholm retiring as champion, he was delighted to secure another title for his departing team boss.
"Of my four titles, this was without doubt the most hotly contested," he said. "To have succeeded after such a fierce fight with Marcus Gronholm on stages across the world gives it a very special flavour. I know Marcus would have liked to have ended his retirement year by taking the crown, but I'm only half sorry he didn't!
"On the other hand, I am glad to have clinched the title on Guy Fréquelin's last rally as the boss of Citroen Sport."
