Conrad Rautenbach just missed out on a top 10 position on the Catalunya Rally – despite a thrilling scrap with French asphalt ace Danny Snobeck.

Former Safari Rally winner Rautenbach had driven exceptionally through Saturday afternoon following a troubled start to this penultimate round of the World Rally Championship. Conrad put brake and centre differential control troubles behind him to close in on Snobeck’s 10^th place. Despite taking time out of his rival on three of today’s stages, Conrad and his British co-driver placed their Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC in 11^th place when the cars returned to Salou for the final time this afternoon.

“It’s been a bit frustrating today,” said Conrad. “The time in the first stage was okay – even though it didn’t feel quite right in the car. We had a bit of a moment on SS14, the notes weren’t quite right for a sequence of corners and we went a bit wide in one. I had to give the car a big chuck to keep us on the road. The spectators seemed to love it, but it wasn’t very good for my heart rate!

“It’s a real shame we didn’t get things together on the first day. We dropped time then and we were fighting back all of the time. The set-up of the car was great, once we went a bit stiffer on Saturday, and we were able to start improving our pace. The good news from this event is that Citroen won the manufacturers’ title for the second successive season. For me now, I’m just really looking forward to the final round: Rally GB. Wales is a fantastic place to go rallying – and it’s my co-driver’s home event; living in London, I guess it’s my adopted home event too!”

Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb (France) could double the French firm’s glory this season as he goes into Rally GB fighting with Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen for the title. Citroen, Loeb and his team-mate Dani Sordo (Spain) dominated the Catalunya Rally, finishing first and second. Hirvonen ensured he remained ahead of Loeb in the drivers’ championship, albeit by a single point, by collecting third in Spain. The fight for this year’s drivers’ title is the closest it has been since 2003 – it’s winner takes all in Wales.