Citroen's Sebastien Loeb re-took the advantage in the battle for the 2007 drivers' title this weekend, when he came through to win the inaugural Rally Ireland, the penultimateꦍ round in the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship.

L🎀oeb led the event practically throughout in his C4 WRC, not that it was as easy a win as that would suggest. Indeed conditions were pretty treacherous throughout and with the asphalt stag🔯es often covered in mud, were extremely slippery.

Seb𓆉's chief championship rival, Marcus Gronholm was the biggest casualty and he⛄ went out on day 1 in SS4.

Gronholm, who won the Stormont Super Special on Thursda🗹y evening, had been running third overall, just 4 seconds off the lead, when he los🅰t control of his Focus RS WRC car under braking for a corner in Lough Gill 1 and crashed heavily into a stone wall.

Although Gronholm aꦦnd co-driver Timo Rautiainen were taken to Sligo General Hospital by ambulance, they were soon released and given the all-clear.

Loeb was then perfectly placed to take advantage, although he himself had problems early on when he suffered a mechanical problem en-route to the 'first' proper stage.

The Frenchman noticed the issue on the road section to SS2. However despite a defective rear damper, Seb still set the fastest time through the 11.48 kilometre Geevagh 1 test and was then second quickest in SS3 and ✨SS4, to return to the first service of the day just 2.2 seconds off his team-mate, Daniel Sordo, who at that point led.

With his C4 fixed though in service, Loeb bounced back in the middle l🙈oop, retaking the lead in second run through Geevagh. Following that the Frenchman extended his margin further in SS6 and although he lost out to Sordo in SS7, he returned to service B with a 6.8 second cushion.

The final loop was again all about Loeb and Sordo, and while Sordo cut the gap to just 3 seconds following SS9, S👍eb finished 𒁃the day with a flourish and took the margin back to just over 10 seconds.

On day 2, Seb set the marker from the off and even though conditions were still tough, with rain falling during SS11, SS12 and SS13, the Fr𝄹enchman was inꦰ a class of his own, winning all three to increase his lead five-fold.

Seb opted to pace hiജmself a bit more in the afternoon, on the repeat runs, and was 'only' third fastest in SS14, 2.5 seconds off Chris Atkinson. He won the next test though - to take his fourth stage w✤in of the day and his ninth of the event, before settling for the fifth best time in SS16, the last stage of the day, 6.3 seconds behind Jari-Matti Latvala.

Loeb thus took a 59.3 second advantage into the third leg, easing off through🅺 🥂the final four stages and eventually taking the victory by just under a minute.

His maximum score means he re-takes the lead in the drivers' championship - having lost it at the end of May when he crashed out in Sardinia. Loeb is now 6 points up Gronholm, with just o🧜ne event, the Wales Rally GB to go in two weeks time.

Sord💟o for his part put in a good drive in the sister C4 WRC winning five stages on the opening day in ☂order to give the French manufacturer a clean sweep.

In view of the situation in the drivers' championship, he was never going to be allo🍸wed to challenge Loeb, but he was lucky to get away with a small off on Saturday when he went off the road in SS12 and got stuck on a concrete wal𒆙l.

The Spaniard was helped back on again by some spectators and he continued on his way, despite slightly damaging the bodywork on his C4. That incident cost him around 30 seconds, but wiܫth a good maꦐrgin over his nearest rival in P3, didn't actually make much difference.

Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala meanwhile took the final place on the rostrum - his best ever result in the WRC. The Finn posted twelve top three stage times 🔯during the event, including winning SS16 and SS19.

Like Sord꧟o he had a moment on day 2 wཧhen he went off the road and into a field - losing 20 seconds, but he also managed to carry on.

Mikko Hirvonen was next up in fourth, after opting for a 'safety-first' approach in order to ensure he notched up at least๊ three points to secure the manufacturers' championship for BP Ford.

In the end he easily did e♉nough▨, taking 5 points for P4, something that guarantees the M-Sport-run outfit its second consecutive manufacturers' crown. He also won two stages on the final day, just for good measure.

Further down the order, Subaru's Petter Solberg was fifth. 'Hollywood' was slowed on day 1 wi🌄th an engine misfire on the first loop, but other than that didn't 🧸really have any issues with his Impreza.

He closed in on Hirvonen on Saturday and got the gap down from 26 seconds to 12.6 seconds post-SS13, before dropping back a bit in the afternoon. He l🎀ost further ground on Sunday and eventually finished 38.1 seconds adrift.

Guy Wilks came in sixth following an impressive showing in his privately entered Impreza. The Englishman set 17 top-🅷ten stage times in total during the event and was even second quickest on the final 'proper' stage, Donegal Bay. It is the first time he has scored 'senior' WRC points and will give him a boost ahead of Rally GB, where he will be out to try and win the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship.

Fellow countryman, Matthew Wilson was next up in the 'third' Stobart Ford car, to score points fo🐟r the second event in succession - and the third time this year. Although he struggled at times in the end he did enough to take two more championship points.

Gareth MacHale rounded out the top eight, with Andreas Mikkelsen ninth and FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category winner, Niall McShea ten꧃th.

McShea t🅰ook the lead in the PWRC on the penultimate test when Armindo Ar🦩aujo went out. McShea eventually finished 44.1 seconds up on Gabriel Pozzo.

Second place was good enough though for Pozzo to keep his PWRC title hopes 𒈔alive and he now needs to win Rally GB to overhaul Toshi Arai and take the Production crown.

Nasser Al-Attiyah was third in 𒁃the PWRC category, 4 minute 31 seconds ಌoff the lead, while Simone Campedelli and Stepan Vojtech completed the top five.

Mark Higgins, who led the PWRC category for much of the event, did not finish. He rolled out on ⛦the final stage on Saturday, throwing away a 30-second lead and his hopes of taking the PWRC title.

Of the rest, Henning Solberg finished 16th after going off the road on day 1 in SS8. He re-started on Saturday under the SupeRally and picked up three manufacturers' points for his efforts. Those points, combined with the 6 scored by Latvala, moves the Stobart ▨team up to third in the m🉐anufacturers', 1 point ahead of Subaru.

Subaru's Chris Atkinson was also classified thanks to the SupeRally, despite having to♒ sit out the final day due to an internal engine problem. He picked up two manufacꦓturers' points as a result.

As for the retirees, in addition to𒅌 Gronholm, fellow 'works' runners, Xಌavier Pons and Manfred Stohl both failed to get to the end.

Like Gronholm, they had offs which forced them ♌out. Pons went out in the same test as Gronholm, SS4, wh♋ile Stohl crashed out on Saturday in SS13.

A number of other n♌otable drivers' went out too, including multiple Irish Tarmac champion, Eugene Donnelly, who was sidelined with mechanical issues on day 1, as well as Kris Meeke, Andrew Nesbitt, Gareth Jones, Ray Breen and Tim McNulty.

The FIA World Rally Championship now heads to Wales for the season finale in two weeks time, which runs from 🌃November 30 to December 2.