It was another tarmac event and another win for Sebastien Loeb at Rally Catalunya. His fourth victory in Spain the Frenchman can't seem to do any worse on the harder surface. Teammate Dani Sordo finished second, the third consecutive one-two finish for the Citroen team. Mikko Hirvonen was the highest Focus in third after Francois Duval slowed down to give the position to the Finn for maximum points, Duval took fourth for himself.

The World Rally Championship title fight has moved even more in Loeb's favor. He is now 12 points ahead of Hirvonen with three events to go. Next weekend the teams head to France for Tour de Corse, another tarmac event. The way things have been for a full year one could expect Loeb to be on the top podium for his home rally.

"It won't surprise anyone to learn that I am delighted with this win," said Loeb. "The Riudecanyes and Santa Marina stages we contested today were quite similar to those of the first two days, but the Serra d'Almos test was different from the others. It was narrow, the asphalt was in a fairly poor state and it was quite bumpy. We took special care not to pick up a puncture, just as we did all weekend, and that was one of the main concerns on this rally. In order to make the most of our Pirelli Pzero WRC Hard tyres, I had to adapt the way I drove to manage their rate of wear. But we didn't make any mistakes and our C4 WRC performed impeccably from start to finish, and that has taken us a step loser to both world titles, although there's still a long way to go..."

In fact, the C4 has been impeccable since returning from the summer break. First beating the Finns on their home soil the Citroen team has gone on to claim each event, usually with Sordo coming in second. Their efforts have boosted the team 27 points ahead of Ford in the Manufacturers' Championship. Beyond a doubt Sordo has become quite the rally ace himself, the Spaniard was thrilled to take second in front of his home crowd.

This is our third consecutive silver medal on our home round and the third time we have contributed to a one-two finish here for Citroen. I would obviously love to win this event one day, but I am happy with today's outcome," said Sordo. "It was a superb weekend for us, and there was much less corner-cutting this time round compared with previous years. We profited from Friday's run to make some set-up changes to adapt the car to our tyres and I then fell into a quick but safe rhythm which enabled us to defend second spot. Our C4 was awesomely competitive all the way to the finish and monopolising the top two positions today is a great reward for everyone in the team. It has enabled Citroen to close in on the title and we will do all we can to reproduce the same result in Ajaccio next weekend!"

For the first half of the event Mikko Hirvonen was frustrated to find himself in fourth. The Finn was attacking each turn but couldn't make up time on the leaders. Constant changes to the setup gave him mixed results. Then, after midday service for leg two, the Flying Finn realized his aggressive driving was the problem. Hirvonen went back on the road and smoothed out his approach. A stage win was his reward. The Finn went on to take three more on the final day, boosting him into third overall.

Coming into the third leg Hirvonen was still behind Duval. The Belgium came to the BP-Ford team as their secret weapon on tarmac but he knew the points battle was between Hirvonen and Loeb. Duval took it easy on the final stages to let his teammate by, a sporting move as a way of thanks for the ride from the Ford team.

"This wasn't how I wanted to take a podium and I really have to thank Francois," admitted Hirvonen. "He was a true team player and helped me to score an extra point. Winning the drivers' championship will be very difficult now but it isn't out of the question so I will keep trying. I finally found a good rhythm yesterday afternoon and I've learned a lot about driving on this surface this weekend."

Duval is looking forward to the next event, which like Loeb is very close to home, "This was a good weekend for me and I'm happy to be back in the Ford team. I made no mistakes and suffered no punctures and this has given me real confidence for next weekend's rally in Corsica. This isn't my favourite asphalt event because the surface is too pure and too smooth, like driving on a motorway at times. However, I found a good set-up for my Focus, my pace was consistent and I enjoyed the tougher and more slippery roads yesterday."

The usual second BP-Ford driver, Jari-Matti Latvala took a seat with his old team Stobart M-Sport while Duval occupied his. The young Finn echoes the same difficulty learning on pavement that Hirvonen did when he was second to Marcus Gronholm. This weekend Latvala was able to finish in the points at sixth place after Urmo Aava retired. He was sandwiched between the two Subarus of Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson. Latvala just edged out Atkinson by the day's end. The Finn will stay with Stobart for France while Duval keeps his experience with the primary Ford team.

"This rally started off quite frustrating for me but actually, when I look back, it was positive and we found a good setting, said Latvala. "The setting we found on Saturday is working and the first stage we had today was great -- I can say it was one of my best stages on Tarmac this year. Now the car setup is right I have the confidence to push some more so from that point of view it has been very productive. Also I'm pleased to have scored some more points for my old team Stobart and hopefully I can repeat this next week in Corsica."

Both Subaru drivers helped shape the tarmac setup in the new car. With their weekend concluded in the hard surface the pair is ready to bring what they learned to the next event. Solberg was consistent in fifth for the whole rally, while Atkinson swapped places with Latvala for much of the event. The Aussie finished seventh, running out of road before he could chase the Ford driver down.

"For sure it's been a tough rally for us, and fifth place is fifth place but it's good to be a little way up there" said Solberg. "The car actually felt a little better in the last two stages after I made some changes, so it's the right direction but we still have more to do. Now we have Corsica straight after to continue this work."

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