Across three days and 341.68 competitive kilometres, the Citroën Xsara WRC topped the timesheets on all 12 tests. By the finish in Ajaccio on 23 October 2005, a long-awaited home victory was secured with a clean sweep unprecedented in the championship.
Sebastien Loeb had arrived with his second world title already secured in Japan three weeks earlier. Victory in Corsica, however, remained a gap in his record. He had conquered Rallye Monte-Carlo and Germany, but the twisting roads of his home round had continued to resist him. Citroën team principal Guy Fréquelin understood the attraction, with instructions to balance that ambition with the team’s pursuit of the manufacturers’ crown while keeping unnecessary risks out of the equation.
Everyone was expecting me to win in Corsica, so I had to do something a little different.
Loeb made his intentions clear on Friday by winning both passes of Ampaza – Col St Eustache and Aullène – Arbellara, ending the opening leg 41.3sec ahead of team-mate François Duval as cool conditions and occasional damp patches gave way to sunshine. He also knew how quickly Corsica could punish a mistake, recalling after Friday’s stages how he had led the event in 2003 before an error the following day cost him his chance.
Saturday brought another four fastest times, including both runs through the demanding 36.24km Vico – Col de Sarzoggiu test. With eight wins from eight, the possibility of a perfect weekend was becoming impossible to ignore. “Everybody is now asking whether I can make it a grand slam. That’s not my objective,” Loeb said at the end of Saturday.
His priority remained victory and maximum points for the team. As he later explained in the FIA’s post-event press conference, he had eased his pace after attacking on Friday, yet the fastest times had continued while he felt comfortable in the car throughout.
Sunday completed the sequence. Loeb won the final four stages, sealing the sweep with another fastest time over the 31.81km Pont de Calzola – Agosta finale, where he was 6.6sec quicker than his closest challenger. Ford’s Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen finished 1min 51.7sec behind, with Subaru’s Petter Solberg and Phil Mills completing the podium, 2min 42.0sec adrift.
Gardemeister’s assessment captured the scale of the achievement: “It means a lot to me to be second behind a driver who was fastest on every stage.” Loeb, meanwhile, found room for a joke at the finish: “Everyone was expecting me to win in Corsica, so I had to do something a little different.” It was his ninth victory of the season and the 19th of his WRC career, delivering a first home win achieved without conceding a single stage.
