Heading home a remarkable Citroen 1-2-3-4 in the inaugural Rally of Bulgaria on Sunday, reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb extended his lead in this year’s title race to 51 points over team-mate and French compatriot Sebastien Ogier.  Citroen now enjoys a 47-point lead over Ford in the manufacturers’ standings with six rounds remaining.  It was the best world championship finish for a manufacturer since Toyota achieved the same feat in the 1993 East African Safari Rally. 

Sweltering conditions greeted the final day of the event, with six-times world champion Loeb enjoying a 40-second advantage over the rest of the field in his Total-backed factory Citroen C4.  He finished the day’s four stages over some 94 km with a comfortable 29,5-second advantage over Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo.

Norwegian Citroen privateer Petter Solberg was third in another C4, finishing just five seconds adrift of Sordo after putting up a spirited fight for the runner-up spot.  Citroen Junior Team driver Ogier was fourth, with the works Ford Focuses of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala completing an unhappy event in fifth and sixth.  

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen continued to impress in his first year of WRC after abandoning the world of Formula One.  The former F1 world champion just missed out on a top 10 finish after beaching his Citroen on a bank for more than half a minute on the final stage.

Loeb’s win was his 58^th at WRC level and takes his points total to 151.  Ogier has 100 and Ford team-leader Hirvonen is fourth with 86