Petter Solberg stormed to victory in the final rally of this year's world rally championship and in the process became Norway's first WRC champion. Solberg won 14 of the rally's 18 stages to triumph by 43 seconds ahead of championship rival Sebastian Loeb, to leave him one point ahead of the Frenchman after the 14th and final round. Finland's Tommi Makinen came home third in a tough event that saw only 11 top line drivers finish. Coming into this rally there were four possible world champions separated by only five points, one of the closest finishes in WRC history.

The list of potential champions was reduced to three prior to the event after Richard Burns was ruled out by his doctors following an illness that had caused him to faint while driving to Wales. This left Solberg, in the Subaru, and the Citroen pair of Sainz and Loeb to battle it out for the title with Peugeot and Citroen competing for the constructor's title. Sainz, looking for his third world title, crashed out on SS3 after he misheard a pace note making the event a two horse race. Sainz's demise altered the whole face of the Citroen challenge as the team, somewhat controversially, instructed Loeb to back off in order to ensure the company won the more important, from a marketing point of view, constructor's title. The FIA said that this did not constitute "team orders" but this effectively shackled Loeb until early on the final day when the Peugeot challenge subsided. Rovanpera retired, leaving Loix as the team's only runner in the points after team leader Gronholm had earlier been forced out of the event when he had ripped a front wheel off his 206 by clipping a log in SS3. The Finn had been stopped by the Welsh Police, who told him his car was not roadworthy and that he could not drive to the next service point for repairs.

Having been told to drive conservatively Loeb was left to watch his own hopes fade as Solberg won all but one of the stages on the last two days of the rally. His only hope was that his rival would suffer the same fate on the final Margham stage as Sainz had in 1998, when his Toyota famously expired only yards from the line. In the event Solberg's Subaru ran perfectly bar an early scare with an oil leak on stage 3 and a slight misfire on Sunday morning, which cleared itself. This was the Japanese manufacturer's seventh victory in the last ten GB rallies, an enviable run.

Citroen won this year's manufacturer's title by 15 points in their first full season of competition in the WRC, with Loeb's conservative drive to second being consolidated by Colin McRae finishing fourth. In what may prove to be his last outing in a full works car, McRae went out with a bang, but not the kind of bang he would have wished for as he punctured his front right tyre on the third and final stage on Sunday. This cost the Scot a chance to challenge for third place after a rally long battle with Tommi Makinen who was also bowing out of WRC after a glittering career. A relaxed Makinen took the opportunity to savour the experience after a decade in the spotlight and moonwalked his way to the final podium position (in his gold boots provided by Alpinestar specifically for the event). The two ex-world champions were nip and tuck throughout the event in a throw back to the battles we have been treated to through the late nineties as these two top drivers battled for titles. If McRae is never to appear in the top line of the sport again then this was a fitting end, a storming drive, marred by bad luck - symptomatic of much of his career. Fitting also that these two masters of the sport followed home the new young stars that, along with Ford's Markko Martin are widely considered to be the future of the sport.

Both Loeb and Solberg have had meteoric rises to the top, Loeb in particular who was competing in his first full WRC season having been used selectively in the past as a tarmac specialist. Solberg had taken his first WRC victory on this same event only last year and has a huge following amongst his countrymen, many of who made the journey over and celebrated at the finish with the man known as "Hollywood".

Next year's championship promises to be just as exciting with Martin and Loeb and a rejuvenated Burns looking to dethrone the new champion. Carlos Sainz will also be looking to go out on a high with a third world championship having announced his intentions to retire at the end of next season.

Final Rally of Wales standings:
1. Solberg Nor Subaru 3:28.58.1
2. Loeb Fra Citroen 3:29.41.7
3. Makinen Fin Subaru 3:31.56.9
4. McRae Sco Citroen 3:34.26.2
5. Duval Bel Ford 3:36.14.2
6. Loix Bel Peugeot 3:37.04.6
7. Stohl Aut Peugeot 3:37.46.5
8. Kresta Cz Peugeot 3:38.00.7
9. Pykalisto Fin Peugeot 3:38.51.7
10. J-M Latvala Fin Ford 3:41.23.4

Final championship standings
Drivers:
Solberg Subaru 72pts
Loeb Citroen 71
Sainz Citroen 63
Burns Peugeot 58
Martin Ford 49
Gronholm Peugeot 46
McRae Citroen 45
Duval Ford 30

Manufacturers:
Citroen 160pts
Peugeot 145
Subaru 109
Ford 93
Skoda 23
Hyundai 12