Solberg versus Loeb finale

But the first casualty was Burns, who ruled himself out even before the start by discovering a brain tumour on the motorway drive down to Wales. Then, early on day one, Carlos Sainz uncharacteristically threw his Citroen into a ditch and said goodbye to his title hopes.

And so it was left to the two fellows that had come to epitomise the wave of youth that had shaken up the establishment in the last year. Solberg and Loeb are pretty fresh in rallying terms, but both drove like experienced masters on the Welsh event.

The equation was simple enough. Whichever driver won the rally would win the championship - and the pair ended up in their own private race acres ahead of a memorable old guard scrap between school leavers Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen.

But Loeb got bitter news on the first day - Citroën's first priority was the manufacturers' championship and they wanted their man Loeb to back off. We'll never know just how much this really slowed him, but Loeb admitted it played on his mind.

Solberg took a comfortable, dominant win in the end, and his co-driver Phil Mills wasn't even convinced that Loeb really had to keep his distance.

"When Citroen said he had backed off we just burst out laughing," said Mills. "It was so obvious he was going as fast as possible. But at the press conference afterwards, Citroen boss Guy Frequelin admitted that they couldn't have caught us anyway."

Solberg is easily rallying's most popular champion ever. His deranged celebrations going out on live television did a lot to make him something of an icon. But next year the quiet Loeb will be out to try and bash Petter off his pedestal.