Muller takes sixth Andros victory

As neither the grand final in Paris next weekend, nor the lowest result of the season count towards the overall points, Muller finishes the season with a perfect score of 600.

Although the title was already decided, the Super Besse round was far from boring, with the first Elite final one of the most thrilling races of the year.

James Ruffier led from pole, followed by Marcel Tarrès, Emmanuel Colard and Jean-Philippe Dayraut.

But as Ruffier opened up a good gap, Dayraut started to attack Colard.

After circulating practically side-by-side, Dayraut finally found his way past the Nissan, and immediately began to attack Tarres.

Suffering from gear-box problems, the Citroen could not withstand the pressure, and Dayraut moved up to second.

Not content, he quickly closed on Ruffier, and continued his campaign.

But Ruffier was not ready to capitulate, and firmly closed the door every time that Dayraut tried to pass, finally taking the chequered flag in the privately entered Opel Tigra, ahead of the two Team Opel France Astras.

"It was a really good race," Ruffier said afterwards. "It wasn't easy, but it was really interesting, because the surface kept changing and you had to adapt."

Muller was in his usual magnificent form in the second final, leading Colard's Peugeot 306 and Malcher's Nissan round the 10-lap race to take maximum points and his twenty-fourth career win.

Second place at Super Besse was taken by James Ruffier, confirming his third place overall in the Trophy, while Nissan's Jean-Pierre Malcher took his best result of the season with third.

Neck and neck all weekend, Laurent Fouquet and Christophe Balas continued their fight in the five-lap Promotion finals.

Fouquet won his final, while Balas, in the Subaru Forester, superbly dominated his five-lap race to take the Promotion victory ahead of Fouquet and Lanctuit.

Despite the Subaru being both heavier and bigger than its rivals, this season's results have been impressive, with three promotion victories and an overall second position in the Trophy.

"Super Besse is magical," Balas said afterwards.

Stéphane Peterhansel, second in the Dakar rally last month, made a one-off return to the motorbikes that started his career, comfortably winning the Pilot Bike round.

After the last scoring round, Yvan Muller took his fifth Trophy win ahead of Opel team-mate Jean-Philippe Dayraut, with James Ruffier close behind.

In the closely contested Promotion category, Jean-Noël Lanctuit beat Christophe Balas by five points, with Laurent Fouquet third.

Pierre Colard, with sixth place overall, won the two-litre category.