Duval kept it on the road to win for Citroen - rounding off a great year for Citroen
Despite the early departure of current World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb, at Telstra Rally Australia this weekend, Citroën still dominated the event, as Francois Duval put a massive 52 seconds between his Xsara WRC and the closest rival.
The result also saw Duval, 24, become one of the youngest drivers of all time to lift silverware in the Championship and helped the Citroën team notch up 11 wins among its 19 podium finishes this year.
A beaming Duval said: "I've been waiting and hoping for this victory for so long. I would like to say a big thank you to Citroën, to my parents, to Guy Fréquelin who has given me so much help, and to Sven [co driver] who has done a tremendous job… I naturally found the final stages very long, but everything went OK. It's a great way to end what has, at times, been a difficult season for me..."
From the first race of the season to the last, Citroën has dominated the series to comfortably take the driver’s and manufacturer’s title. In the three years Citroën has been fully committed to the Championship, it has won the manufacturer’s title on each occasion.
In 2006, Citroën will be taking a sabbatical from the event, to return in 2007 competing in the Citroën C4 WRC.
Rovanpera grabbed second for Mitsubishi and Stohl inherited 3rd from Mcrae in his Citroen - after the scot was unlucky to exceed maximum permitted service time over what would normally be a routine clutch change on the Skoda. Mcrae's misfortune deprived Skoda of their best ever finishing on a WRC event
Final positions 1. F Duval/S Smeets B Citroen Xsara 3hr 19min 55.0sec 2. H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen FIN Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 20min 47.9sec 3. M Stohl/I Minor A Citroen Xsara 3hr 21min 28.0sec 4. C Atkinson/G MacNeall AUS Subaru Impreza 3hr 21min 34.0sec 5. G Galli/G D'Amore I Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 22min 59.4sec 6. R Kresta/J Tománek CZ Ford Focus RS 3hr 23min 04.0sec 7. D Solà/X Amigo E Ford Focus RS 3hr 26min 12.4sec 8. A Schwarz/K Wicha D Skoda Fabia 3hr 27min 59.3sec 9. T Arai/T Sircombe J Subaru Impreza 3hr 35min 38.2sec 10 M Higgins/D Barritt GB Subaru Impreza 3hr 37min 24.8sec
FIA World Rally Championship (final positions) Drivers 1. S Loeb 127pts 2. P Solberg 71pts 3. M Grönholm 71pts 4. T Gardemeister 58pts 5. M Märtin 53pts 6. F Duval 47pts 8. R Kresta 29pts
Manufacturers 1. Citroen 188pts 2. Peugeot 135pts 3. Ford 104pts 4. Subaru 97pts 5. Mitsubishi 76pts 6. Skoda 21pts
