The third and final leg of the Rally Japan saw Dani Sordo and Marc Martí successfully steer their Citroën C4 WRC to second place at the finish in Obihiro this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena profited from the SupeRally ruling to re-join the fourteenth round of the championship with their C4 with a view to preparing for early December's Wales Rally GB.

The programme of the last day featured 97.33km of stages which took the form of two loops of three tests, plus a final visit to the Obihiro super-special. And once again, the day's early start (up at 3.30am!), long road sections (290.42km) and low temperatures (5°C) ensured that the Japanese event will be remem bered as one of the toughest fixtures of the year.

Although Dani Sordo didn't particularly enjoy his first visit to Hokkaido in 2006, he will leave Japan's northernmost island with fond memories this time round. "It wasn't the easiest of events," he remarked after spraying the champagne on this afternoon's podium. "We really had to take care over today's stages which were again extremely slippery.

The combination of fast roads and frequently changing grip meant that we had to be on our toes throughout. I am glad to have finished second and the weekend has brought me a lot of extra experience on this type of terrain. That could well come in useful in the future. We also did some good set-up for the last round of the year in Wales."

Despite their off on Saturday's SS13, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena re-joined the event this morning with the intention of preparing for the last gravel round of the season. "Along with the Citroën Sport technical staff, we decided to profit from the last day to work on the set-up of our C4 WRC because the conditions were similar to what we can expect in Wales. Daniel and I have already put yesterday's mistake behind us.

We are fully aware of the challenge that awaits us if we want to defend our title. The fight is by no means over and we give it our very best shot on the last two rounds of the season."

"I would like to congratulate Dani Sordo and Marc Martí for their first class performance here despite the complex conditions," concluded Guy Fréquelin. "They came through the fog, rain, mud and ice unscathed and, given Dani's lack of experience, a podium finish was a fitting reward. I hope they manage to obtain a similar result in Ireland. That could be a big help for Sébastien.

The excellent potential of our car in these conditions was the other positive feature of the weekend. It would obviously have been better had Sébastien
and Daniel been able to benefit fully from Marcus Grönholm's retirement. But since they retired, too, the situation at the top of the points table hasn't changed, except for the fact that there are now only two events still to come and Seb and Daniel will have to win them both if they want to win the title. Everything is still possible. We all know we face a big challenge but everyone at Citroën Sport is ready to do their utmost to pull it off…"

Stage wins
Leg 1:
SS1 : Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS2 : Marcus Grönholm (Ford Focus) – SS3 : Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS4 : Dani Sordo (Citroën C4) – SS5 : JM. Latvala – SS6 and ES7 : Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS8 : D. Sordo – SS9 : Armindo Araujo (Mitsubishi Lancer) – SS10 : Xévi Pons (Subaru Impreza).
Leg 2:
SS11 : S. Loeb – SS12 : M. Hirvonen – SS13 : D. Sordo – SS14, 15 and SS16 : Petter Solberg (Subaru Impreza) – SS17 : D. Sordo – SS18 : P. Solberg – SS19 and 20 : Frederico Villagra (Ford Focus).
Leg 3:
SS21 : S. Loeb – SS22 : D. Sordo – SS23, ES24 et SS25 : S. Loeb – ES26 : D. Sordo – SS27 : F. Villagra.

Best performers
D. Sordo and S. Loeb, 6 stages wins – P. Solberg, 4 – M. Hirvonen et F. Villagra, 3 – JM Latvala, 2 – M. Grönholm, X. Pons et A. Araujo 1.

Leaders
SS1 to SS2 : JM. Latvala – SS3 : M. Grönholm – SS4 to SS5 : JM. Latvala – SS6 à SS27 : M. Hirvonen.

Final leaderboard on 4th Rally Japan

1. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus) 3 h 23 min 57,6 s
2. D. Sordo/M. Martí (Citroën C4) + 37,4 s
3. H. Solberg/C. Menkerud (Ford Focus) + 4 min 33,7 s
4. M. Wilson/M. Orr (Ford Focus) + 6 min 37,9 s
5. L. Perez-Companc/JM Volta (Ford Focus) + 6 min 40,4 s
6. M. Stohl/I. Minor (Citroën Xsara) + 7 min 04,3 s
7. F. Villagra/J. Perez-Companc (Ford Focus) + 11 min 15,3 s
8. Y. Taguchi/T. Sato (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 20 min 40,1 s
9. G. Pozzo/D. Stillo (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 21 min 53,0 s
10. A. Araujo/M. Ramalho (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 24 min 13,5 s

FIA World rally Championship’s rankings ‘Manufacturers’ (round 14/16)*
1. Ford, 189 points – 2. Citroën Total, 155 pts – 3. Subaru, 73 pts – 4. Stobart, 71 pts – 5. OMV Kronos Citroën, 43 pts – 6. Munchis, 14 pts.

FIA World rally Championship’s rankings ‘Drivers’ (round 14/16)
1. M. Grönholm, 104 points – 2. S. Loeb, 100 pts – 3. M. Hirvonen, 84 pts – 4. D. Sordo, 53 pts – 5. P. Solberg, 38 pts – 6. H. Solberg, 34 pts – 7. C. Atkinson, 29 pts – 8. JM. Latvala, 24 pts – 9. M. Stohl, 12 pts – 10. F. Duval, 12 pts – 11. T. Gardemeister, 10 pts – 12. J. Kopecky, 10 pts – 13. D.
Carlsson, 9 pts – 14. M. Wilson, 6 pts – 15. G. Galli, 5 pts… etc.