Mikko Hirvonen meanwhile dropped to second after only finishing fifth - and is now five points adrift, while
Chris Atkinson is third.
In the Manufacturers' championship the BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT remains top, with 44 points on the board. The Citroen Total WRT however, closed the gap, down from 12 points to just 3.
There have been a number of developments since the last round, with the Pirelli Star Driver scheme confirmed, in a bid to help younger competitors reach the pinnacle of the sport and compete in the World Rally Championship, as well as news Marcus Gronholm is going to come out of retirement and compete in the European Rallycross Championship.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
Citroen Total WRT:
[
Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and
Daniel Sordo, car #2]
Loeb out to stretch championship lead.
Having re-taken the initiative in the battle for the 2008 drivers' title last time out,
Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has set his sights on increasing his lead in Jordan.
Loeb has enjoyed a storming season so far, having won three of the four events and currently he has 30 points on the board - five points up on his closest challenger,
BP Ford's
Mikko Hirvonen.
The Frenchman is now keen to add to that tally and take his number of WRC wins up to forty.
"Our objective will be to win with a view to increasing our lead in the Drivers' championship and enabling Citroën to stay in the fight for top spot in the Manufacturers' standings," he confirmed.
"If Daniel [Elena – my co-driver] and I can pull that off, it will be our 40th WRC win. That's not something I'm particularly obsessed about, but it would make a nice, round figure!"
Jordan however will be a step into the unknown, as this will be the first time the Dead Sea-based event has hosted a round of the World Rally Championship and that could make things a bit more unpredictable.
