French driver Sebastian Loeb won the twelfth round of the World Rally Championship in Cyprus on Sunday for the third year in a row, placing him closer to securing his third world championship.
The Kronos-Citroen driver fended off his main rival, Finland's Markus Gronholm. Gronholm, driving a Ford, was leading on Friday, but succumbed to the Frenchman's offensive on the second day.
It was Loeb's 28th career win.
PHOTO: AFP
"Another great victory for me," Loeb said.
"We had a difficult challenge here in Cyprus and Markus pressured me for two days. Now I hope to finish in the first four in Turkey in order to clinch the championship," he said.
Gronholm was not disappointed, though.
"The team decided it was more important to secure the second place and win points," the Finnish driver said.
With four more races to go, Loeb widened the difference over the Finn to 35 points.
He was fastest driver in 10 of the 21 special stages and Gronholm won eight as drivers took to the grueling mountain tracks and rough roads. They were hampered with unexpected heavy rainfall that caused extensive damage to the 319km course.
Fans and drivers also faced an extraordinary obstacle as the island's Greek Orthodox population went to the polls to elect 1,500 representatives that will choose a new Archbishop in November, causing some traffic problems.
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