Sebastien Loeb stormed to victory in the OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland today and also boosted his hopes of taking the overall World Championship. The Frenchman now has a 29-point lead over Ford’s Markko Martin, who finished fourth in Germany.

Loeb performed really well in the wet conditions on the opening two legs of the rally and opened up a 50-second  overnight lead over Ford’s Francois Duval heading into today’s final seven stages. This meant that he could afford to lose time to Duval this morning before consolidating his victory in the afternoon stages.

Sebastien said afterwards: “This win is very important for the title, and having a 29-point lead over Martin is very important at this point in the season,” Loeb said. “Victory here in Germany was especially nice, as it’s my third time winning this event, and it’s very close to my home town, so a lot of friends and family have come here to watch. Because of the adverse conditions on the first two days, it has been a very difficult rally, so I’m very pleased to have finished on top here this weekend.” -22 August 2004