Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) scored his eighth victory of the season and his fourth consecutive German success, cruising through the final day to beat team-mate François Duval by 37.4sec.  The Frenchman extended his championship lead to 32 points and the 1-2 result lifted the French team back into the lead of the manufacturers' series.  Team-mates Marcus Grönholm and Markko Märtin (both Peugeot) were similarly untroubled en route to third and fourth. 

BP-Ford World Rally team driver Roman Kresta matched his career best result when he and co-driver Jan Tománek finished sixth on Germany's OMV ADAC Rallye today.  The Czech duo enjoyed a thrilling final day battle with Gigi Galli on this 11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship.  The result was in doubt until the final few kilometres of the 355.40km event when Kresta's Ford Focus RS World Rally Car was edged out of fifth by his Italian rival.

Behind the Galli and Kresta battle, Petter Solberg (Subaru) climbed back into the points following yesterday's gear selection troubles by finishing seventh.  His cause was helped when team-mate Stephane Sarrazin drove the final three stages with a broken front right driveshaft.  However, the Frenchman claimed the final drivers' and manufacturers' point in eighth.  Jan Kopecky (Skoda) was the only major retirement today when he crashed out of ninth and ripped the rear left wheel from his car on the third stage this morning.   

Next round

The series returns to gravel for round 12.  The fast forest tracks of south Wales play host to Rally GB which is based in Cardiff on 15 - 18 September.

Final positions 1.  S Loeb/D Elena                      F               Citroen Xsara           3hr 27min 13.2sec 2.  F Duval/S Smeets                    B               Citroen Xsara           3hr 27min 50.6sec 3.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen             FIN             Peugeot 307             3hr 29min 18.0sec 4.  M Märtin/M Park                     EE              Peugeot 307             3hr 31min 22.6sec 5.  G Galli/G D'Amore                   I               Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 32min 16.8sec 6.  R Kresta/J Tománek          CZ              Ford Focus RS   3hr 32min 25.5sec 7.  P Solberg/P Mills                   N               Subaru Impreza  3hr 35min 01.3sec 8.  S Sarrazin/D Giraudet               F               Subaru Impreza  3hr 35min 47.3sec 9.  X Pons/C Del Barrio         E               Citroen Xsara           3hr 36min 22.4sec 10 H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen            FIN             Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 36min 24.8sec

FIA World Rally Championship (after round 11 of 16) Drivers                                                 1.  S Loeb                      93pts                   2.  M Grönholm          61pts                   3.  P Solberg                   55pts                   4.  M Märtin                    53pts                   5.  T Gardemeister              47pts                   6.  H Rovanperä         22pts                   8.  R Kresta                    13pts

Manufacturers 1. Citroen                      123pts 2. Peugeot                      117pts 3. Ford                  72pts 4. Subaru                         62pts 5. Mitsubishi                     47pts 6. Skoda                            8pts