Loeb happy to prove first title was no fluke

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who retained his world rally championship crown in Japan on Sunday, says his second title proved the first was no fluke.

"The first time was in Corsica, it was more emotional because my family and friends were there.

"In Japan, it was more relaxed but I'm still happy with this second title," Loeb told sports daily L'Equipe yesterday.

"At least, it shows the first one was no fluke."

The Citroen driver, who has won 18 times in a three-and-a-half year career in the world rally championship, said teamwork was the key to his success.

"The fact that everybody knows each other very well, makes our work easier. We understand each other much better," he said.

Loeb is the second Frenchman to win the world title, after Didier Auriol, the 1994 champion.

Loeb's title run-in has been overshadowed by the death of Briton Michael Park, a co-driver for Peugeot's Markko Martin, at last weekend's Rally of Britain.

Park died when their Peugeot slammed into a tree during the 15th stage of the race.

The final stages of the British rally were cancelled and race leader Loeb took deliberate time penalties to ensure he did not win the title in such tragic circumstances.

"Marcus Gronholm had run the same number of stages as me and had he not pulled out, he would have won the rally," said Loeb.

"The solution was to stop the rally at that point and Marcus would have won but the stewards did not think so. That is why, with Citroen, we decided to take penalties."