Muller takes fourth Andros Victory

'A good result in Serre Chevalier should be enough to secure the title,' he said.

After dominating the timed practice and taking qualifying with two session wins, Muller led his final 10-lap race from pole to chequered flag, despite worries due to damage to the car while Dany Snobeck had been driving it in the first final.

'It was a close thing whether we'd get it fixed in time.'

Behind him, his Opel team-mate Jean-Philippe Dayraut managed to get past second-placed Pierre Colard as they went round the hairpin side by side.

However, the extra point was not enough to change the results, and Colard came in third overall.

'We've been very consistent this weekend, and this podium place is a good reward for all the team, who have worked hard. Especially to win on this track, which is the hardest for our car.'

James Ruffier, in the Opel Tigra, won his final despite heavy pressure from Nissan's Emmanuel Collard.

This placed him second overall for the second race in a row.

'I'm very pleased, especially as the weekend started badly,' Ruffier said. 'On Friday night I thought I'd be lucky to finish fifth as we had clutch problems all weekend.

'This is a very positive result for all the team.'

Emmanuel Collard came in fourth, with Jean-Philippe Dayraut fifth ahead of Marcel Tarrès.

The Promotion finals were won by Christophe Balas, dominant in the Subaru Forester estate car, and Jean-Michel Neyrial, who got ahead of pole-sitter Jean-Noël Lanctuit at the start.

Lanctuit's second place meant that he ended on the same points as Balas.

However, the Subaru Forester driver took his second Promotion victory of the season by having set the faster session time.

Lanctuit was second and Neyrial third.

'It's a great result,' Balas said. 'Partly because this is my home race - I live 20 km away - and partly because the car was a real handful this weekend.

'We couldn't get the set-up right, and it was very lively and oversteering badly. So I had to adapt my driving to cope with it, which was very hard work.'

Race results: