Sebastien Loeb extended his World Rally Championship lead to 38 points as he secured his fifth win of the 2012 season in Rally New Zealand ahead of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen.
Loeb went into the final day with a 6.4s margin over Hirvonen, but due to forecasted tricky conditions, both drivers were forced to hold their positions, thus giving Citroen a dominant 1-2 finish.
Petter Solberg finished a lonely 3rd place, 1 minute 36 seconds far off the Citroen duo, and 37 seconds ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Evegny Novikov.
Despite early struggles, Qatar Citroen driver Thierry Neuville clinched fifth, followed by the two Prodrive Minis of Dani Sordo in 6th and Armindo Araujo in 8th.
Jari-Matti Latvala endured a difficult rally; the Finn was leading after SS1, but a trip off the road on Friday afternoon meant that he would eventually finish in 7th place.
Ott Tanak’s hopes of a points finish were destroyed after rolling out of fifth place with just two stages to go.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 4h04m51.2s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 29.6s 3. Petter Solberg Ford + 1m36.4s 4. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 2m13.6s 5. Thierry Neuville Qatar Citroen + 2m42.4s 6. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini + 3m03.1s 7. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 4m52.9s 8. Armindo Araujo Portugal Mini + 9m36.4s 9. Ken Block Monster Ford + 10m30.3s 10. Manfred Stohl Brazil Ford + 11m26.3s