Motor sport:Sebastien Loeb won his fourth world rally championship in a row on Sunday when he drove his Citroen to third place in the season-ending event in Britain.
Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, whose Ford team had already clinched their second successive manufacturers' title, was the race winner after three days through the mud and forests of South Wales.
Hirvonen's team mate and compatriot Marcus Gronholm, Frenchman Loeb's only rival for the crown, finished second in his final world championship rally before heading into retirement.
Loeb, who equalled Finn Tommi Makinen's record of four titles in a row, ended the season with 116 points to Gronholm's 112. Hirvonen was third with 99.
The Frenchman is only the third driver to win four world rally championships, the other being Makinen's compatriot Juha Kankkunen.
The championship was a fitting farewell to Citroen team boss Guy Frequelin, who has led the French car company to three manufacturers' titles since their first full season in 2003.
Gronholm had hoped to crown his retirement with a third drivers' title but a crash in the previous rally in Ireland had all but killed off his hopes.
The Ford driver played safe from the start on Friday, knowing that the championship outcome was out of his hands with Loeb needing only to finish a steady fifth to be sure of the title.
Hirvonen, who had set the pace since the opening day, finished the final stage with his front bumper hanging off after what could have been a costly error.
Subaru's Norwegian Petter Solberg finished fourth, with Loeb's Spanish team mate Dani Sordo fifth. Briton Matthew Wilson was sixth in a Stobart Ford and Australian Chris Atkinson seventh for Subaru.
Austrian Manfred Stohl collected the final point in a privately-entered Citroen.