Subaru boss: Our best title yet

With Solberg's success, Subaru has now won the drivers' crown on three occasions. Colin McRae was the first to achieve the feat for the team in 1995, with Richard Burns winning the title in a final round shoot-out in 2001. However, Lapworth believes that Solberg's triumph is the best of the three.

"What a fantastic result and an excellent, calculated drive from Petter - he kept his cool all the way through," said Lapworth. "It's incredible when you think that it was only a year ago that he took his first ever WRC win. He's scored five wins in the last fifteen rallies, and four in the last eight. That's pretty impressive.

"This year has been the best ever Championship for the team, a lot of people wrote Petter off in the fight for the Championship in the early part of the season, but I think Sunday answers that."

Lapworth also praised Tommi Makinen's run to third. It was the Finnish legend's final event before retirement, and he marked the occasion by wearing some very special racing boots.

"It was fantastic to see Tommi win his long battle with Colin, and finish on the podium, despite having been conducting a tyre test for Petter along the way," added Lapworth. "The gold boots did the trick, and it's an excellent end to his full-time driving career. Expect to see Petter in them from Monte Carlo next year!"