Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena have won the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship* after claiming victory in Loeb’s home round of the series, Rallye de France Alsace.

This is the duo’s ninth consecutive FIA World Rally Championship title; a record-breaking achievement. The Citroën Total World Rally Team has also clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship for the eighth time*.

In the overall classification of Rallye de France Alsace, the 11th round of the Championship, Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished second overall for Ford, with Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen taking the final podium position.

The final day of competition took in two loops of three stages, with no opportunity for service, and was the shortest leg with just 61.54 kilometres of competition. In the Power Stage - stage 20 in France - Ott Tanak, Thierry Neuville and Mads Ostberg claimed additional points for setting the fastest times through this 17.08 kilometre stage.

Rain this morning made conditions tricky for the crews but Loeb maintained his advantage to cruise to a record-breaking ninth title and 75th World Rally win. Both Latvala and Hirvonen also finished the rally without problems to complete the podium positions. Behind them, Thierry Neuville has flown through the stages today, winning all three tests this morning to move from sixth to fourth. This afternoon the Belgian only conceded the Power Stage win to Tanak to round off a fine weekend.

Mads Ostberg finished fifth ahead of Tanak, who lost time with a spin this morning, and Evgeny Novikov who dropped time with a roll. Dani Sordo was forced into retirement this afternoon after losing the power steering.

The penultimate round of the 2012 FIA WRC takes the contenders to the island of Sardinia for Rally Italia (October 18-21).

* Subject to confirmation of the results by the FIA

Rallye de France Alsace – Provisional Final Results

1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC) 3hr 32min 53sec
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +15.5
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Citroën DS3 WRC) +44.1
4. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Citroën DS3 WRC) +1:07.3
5. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:16.4
6. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:27.9
7. Evgeny Novikov/Ilka Minor (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +5:51.6
8. Chris Atkinson/Glenn MacNeall (MINI Cooper Works WRC) +6:42.4
9. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +8:46.8
10. Sébastien Chardonnet/T de la Haye (Citroën DS3 WRC) +8:59.7

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 11 of 13 rounds)

Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 244 points
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 173 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 131 points
Mads Østberg (NOR) 125 points
Petter Solberg (NOR) 119 points
Evgeny Novikov (RUS) 69 points
Thierry Neuville (BEL) 52 points
Martin Prokop (CZE) 42 points
Ott Tänak (EST) 37 points
Dani Sordo (ESP) 31 points
Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 31 points
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) 28 points
Chris Atkinson (AUS) 14 points
Armindo Araújo (PRT) 11 points
Dennis Kuipers (NLD) 8 points
François Delecour (FRA) 8 points
Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) 7 points
Henning Solberg (NOR) 6 points
Pierre Campana (FRA) 6 points
Matti Rantanen (FIN) 6 points
Jari Ketomaa (FIN) 6 points
Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) 4 points
Patrik Sandell (SWE) 4 points
Ken Block (USA) 4 points
Ricardo Triviño (MEX) 1 point
Mathieu Arzeno (FRA) 1 point
Peter Van Merksteijn (NLD) 1 point
Manfred Stohl (AUT) 1 point
Eyvind Brynildsen (NOR) 1 point
Abdulaziz Alkuwari (QAT) 1 point
Mathew Wilson (GBR) 1 point
Sébastien Chardonnet (FRA) 1 point

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 11 of 13 rounds)

Citroën Total World Rally Team - 388 points
Ford World Rally Team - 259 points
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 137 points
Citroën Junior World Rally Team - 72 points
Adapta World Rally Team - 71 points
Qatar World Rally Team - 63 points
MINI WRC Team - 26 points
Brazil World Rally Team - 20 points