The final day of the 2008 World Rally Championship saw Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and Citroën collect their third consecutive Rally Mexico win. Their hat-trick in the land of sombreros takes them to within a single point of the provisional Drivers' championship leader, while Citroën has made up a little of its deficit in the Manufacturers' classification.

"The last day featured a little more than 60km of competitive action divided into three stages, plus a final attempt at the super-special in León," commented Sébastien Loeb. "Despite our overnight lead, we approached today's leg cautiously because of the risks inherent in being first on the road, like having to sweep a clear line, punctures, etc."

Despite their apprehension, the World Champions came through the day unscathed and the cancellation of the day's longest test (SS18) for safety reasons didn't upset them unduly.

Today's result marks the 38th world class win for Sébastien and Daniel who were given a heroes' welcome by everyone at Citroën Sport on their return to the Poliforum service park.

"I'm delighted to have won here," beamed Seb as he stepped off the podium. "Following our blank scorecard in Sweden, it was important to try to bounce back straight away.

It wasn't easy and, as often seems to be the case in Mexico, we had a troubled start, but the rest of the event went very well for us! It's the sort of victory I like because it came after a good fight. Marcus Grönholm's absence has already been filled by another Finn who is younger and just as determined.

I think we can look forward to some good scraps this year, and that's fine by me! For this weekend's hard-packed stages, Pirelli took the safe choice with a very hard compound in a bid to ward off punctures. We effectively didn't suffer any, but we had to adjust our set-up to improve traction.

The team responded well and our times here with the C4 WRC are an encouraging pointer for the rest of the year."

Dani Sordo and Marc Martí posted some excellent times, too, to finish 17th overall with their Citroën C4. "Once we had put the first day's disappointment behind us, my main concern was to find the ideal set-up. After feeling as comfortable as I did in Sweden, the season's first gravel rally was another encouraging sign for the remainder of the season."

"Today's win is a great reward for everyone at Citroën Sport and everybody kept their eye on the ball throughout," concluded Olivier Quesnel.

"We reacted well to match the set-up of the C4 so well to the specific characteristics of the Mexican stages and produce such a highly competitive package. Sébastien and Daniel have closed to within a point of the current Drivers'  Championship leader and Citroën has stabilised the gap in the Manufacturers' standings.

 Sébastien Loeb's performance at the sharp end of the leaderboard was mirrored by the first class run of Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia in the FIA Junior WRC with their Citroën C2 Super 1600.

The Equipe de France FFSA-backed driver won his first world class outing which really is something of an achievement."

Final leaderboard on 5th Corona Rally Mexico*
1. S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroën C4) 3 h 33 min 29,9 s
2. C. Atkinson/S. Prevot (Subaru Impreza) + 1 min 06,1 s
3. JM. Latvala/M. Anttila (Ford Focus) + 1 min 39,7 s
4. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus) + 3 min 38,7 s
5. H. Solberg/C. Menkerud (Ford Focus) + 4 min 57,9 s
6. M. Wilson/M. Scott (Ford Focus) + 6 min 28,9 s
7. F. Villagra/J. Pérez-Companc (Ford Focus) + 19 min 03 s
8. R. Triviño/C. Salom (Peugeot 206) + 21 min 17,3 s
9. Ogier/J. Ingrassia (Citroën C2) + 25 min 24,9 s
10. J. Mölder/F. Miclotte (Suzuki Swift) + 26 min 56,8 s