SYDNEY—Frenchman Sebastien Loeb clinched his third world rally championship on Sunday when Marcus Gronholm finished fifth behind Finnish compatriot Mikko Hirvonen in the rally of Australia.
Loeb was forced to skip the rally after breaking his arm in a cycling accident earlier this month but secured the title with two rounds to go when his last remaining rival bowed out of contention.
"To win the title is a very nice feeling," Loeb told reporters in a telephone interview from his home.
"Luckily for me, I had a good number of points before I had my accident.
"When you are at home and you know you can't drive and you're watching the rally on the internet, it's very difficult, very frustrating to not be able to fight. It's good to know that we won the championship."
Gronholm, world champion in 2000 and 2002, needed to finish in the first four to have any mathematical chance of overtaking Loeb but could only manage fifth place after rolling his Ford while leading the rally on the first day.
"This was the best we could hope for after our crash on Friday," he told reporters. "There was no chance to climb higher unless the other drivers had problems."
Hirvonen capitalised on his team mate's accident and the absence of Loeb to capture his first rally win, completing the treacherous 26-stage event around the Western Australia capital Perth in an aggregate time of three hours, 15 minutes and 11.8 seconds.
"It's been a fantastic weekend," Hirvonen said. "We got the lead early but the pressure was constant."
Norway's Petter Solberg, the 2003 world champion, finished second in a Subaru, 37.1 seconds behind Hirvonen, despite hitting a rock on the third of Sunday's six concluding stages.
"I'm so pleased with this result, it shows that we're moving in the right direction," Solberg said.
"We still have some way to go but to get this result towards the end of such a year is very pleasing."
Austrian Manfred Stohl was third overall, almost a further four minutes behind Solberg in his Peugeot, while Spain's Xavier Pons, driving a Citroen in the absence of the injured Loeb, finished fourth, more than seven and a half minutes ahead of Gronholm.
Citroen's Return
Loeb, 32, joined Tommi Makinen and Juha Kankkunen, both of Finland, as the only drivers to win at least three world titles. Kankkunen won the championship in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993 while Makinen won four in a row from 1996-99.
Loeb, who was a gymnast before taking up rallying, also became the first driver to win the championship in a privately run car since Ari Vatanen won in a Ford in 1981.
He won his two previous titles with a factory-backed Citroen but opted to drive a Citroen for the Belgium-based Kronos team this season after the manufacturer took a year off.
Loeb will return to Citroen when the manufacturer rejoins the world championship in 2007.
"It was a big challenge to come with Kronos at the beginning of the season, but they gave me a perfect car all season, like it was with Citroen," Loeb said.
"I would like to be there (Australia) to celebrate it, but hopefully I'll come back before the end of the season."
The next round of the championship will be in New Zealand in mid-November before the final rally is held in Wales in December.
The Australia rally has been left off the 2007 schedule but returns in 2008 in Queensland.
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