38 th Repco (August 29-31, 2008)

A one-two finish for the 'All Reds' in New Zealand!

The 11 th round of the 2008 in New Zealand produced a breathtaking finale which saw Sébastien Loeb and clinch the spoils to secure a landmark 50 th WRC success for Citroën at the end of the three-day event. Today's result takes the defending champions further clear at the top of the provisional Drivers' standings, while a magnificent second place for /Marc Martí made it a resounding one-two finish for Citroën Total which has comforted its lead in the Manufacturers' points table.

The decisive third leg of this year's Rally New Zealand featured a little more than 85km of competitive action to the west of host town Hamilton. The programme was based on a loop of two stages to be contested twice each, before the weekend's third and final attempt at the Mystery Creek super-special which rounded off the event.

The two Citroën Sport crews profited from the mid-morning's remote service halt in Raglan to analyse the situation: "We span on SS12 (Te Hutewai 1)," reported Sébastien Loeb . "That cost us valuable seconds and we failed to recover them entirely on the following test, Whaanga Coast. There are still three stages to come and we are 17.7 seconds behind the leader and 14.5s off second spot. We haven't yet said our last word, though, and we have no intention of giving up. We will continue to push…"

Dani Sordo and Marc Martí were pleased with the way their day had started: "We tried to make the most of the fact that we are running fourth on the road today," commented the young Spaniard. "I have never had a good run on the last day in New Zealand, but things seem to be going much better this time round and that confirms the good feeing I have had here so far. We will try not to take our eye off the ball because so much can still happen…"

How right he was! As the tension soared, Sébastien, Daniel and their C4 WRC put in a stunning run over Te Hutewai 2 (SS14) to close to within 15.3s of first place. The reigning World Champion takes up the story: "We were aware that this was probably too big a gap to bridge in normal circumstances but we never gave up, and our efforts ended up paying! It's becoming something of a tradition for the last day of this rally to produce nail-biting finishes. I am obviously delighted to have won this event which I really enjoy and which has taken me further clear at the top of the championship." Today's victory was Seb and Daniel's 44 th world class win.

Meanwhile, Dani and Marc succeeded in bagging a remarkable second place. "I'm obviously thrilled to have finished on the podium here," exulted Dani. "It's fantastic to have contributed to a one-two finish for the team and to have played a part in what has turned out to be a big points haul for Citroën. I'm also delighted with the feeling I had here in New Zealand. I still lack experience of this terrain, but I was able to see that I have made progress since last year's visit. My feeling with the C4 is improving all the time and my times are getting closer and closer to those of the top loose surface experts. The bottom line of our weekend here could hardly be better!"

"It's been an exceptional weekend which has ended in a fantastic one-two for Citroën," beamed Olivier Quesnel. " is such an exciting sport. We never tire of saying that victory is never in the bag until the finish line has been crossed, and we saw that once again today! Everyone in the team responded perfectly to the way the weekend unfolded and that put our two crews in a strong position going into the last day. That in turn enabled them to push their rivals into making mistakes. Sébastien and Daniel have once again showcased their