Citroen and Loeb's happy ending just points away.

Citroen's Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz finished second and third in the Rally Italia Sardinia today, scoring valuable points for both the Manufacturers' and Drivers' Championships.

Only three rounds before the final target, Citroen and their crews are lying only a few points from a possible conquest of the two titles.

Loeb only needs five points to become World Champion and Citroen seven points to give the Xsara its second crown. There are three remaining events to reach the targets which were set at the beginning of the season.

The third leg was expected to be very difficult as it offered six special stages without any service in between. Once more, the Xsaras proved their excellent reliability on this occasion. Team boss Guy Frequelin was extremely satisfied at the finish in Olbia.

"Both our Xsaras went through the whole event without any single problem," he said. "This technical reliability is also reinforced by the strength and the race craft of our drivers and co-drivers. The results here absolutely follow our plans and the same for our strategy in the Championship. I often compare this Championship to a rally - there are sixteen rounds, like sixteen special stages in summary. The fastest drivers and the best car are those who pass the finish line in the leading position."

Second for the fifth time this season, and on the podium for the tenth time, Loeb has once again shown the maturity of an experienced driver.

"Just after the first stage, I said to myself that it will be difficult to beat Petter Solberg here," revealed the Frenchman. "I went faster in some places but he always kept his lead. When Marcus Gronholm had some problems, I thought it wasn't stupid to go for the second place. And that's what we've done, just before two events, which should be favourable to us. Actually, I won't hide that I would really like to win Corsica."

Climbing onto the 94th podium of his career, Sainz was also very pleased. The 'veteran' of the Championship has once again fought with the front-runners.

"This event was very difficult for the engineers and the technicians as we were driving on new terrain," he commented. "We had to quickly find the most appropriate settings. It was also very tricky for the drivers due to the very narrow stages and the rocks interspersing on the sides. Despite all that, the team has scored a fantastic result with two cars in the top three. On my side, I'm now lying third in the Drivers' Championship and I will try to defend this position."

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