Loeb cracks open champagne, set for NZ return?

Kronos Citroen team leader Sebastien Loeb clinched his third successive drivers' title following the Rally Australia on Sunday - even though he was back in Europe recovering from his mountain bike accident that left him with a broken arm.

Loeb has been absolutely dominant again this season and took his eighth win of the year on the Cyprus Rally roughly one month ago. Following that event, the twelfth round in the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship, the Frenchman had a 35 point lead and looked poised to secure the title in Turkey as long as he finished fourth.

However just a few days following the rally on the 'Island of Aphrodite' he fell awkwardly off his mountain bike and broke his arm. That accident handed his rival Marcus Gronholm an outside chance of taking the title and the Finn reduced Seb's advantage to 25 points following his victory in Turkey. Gronholm needed to finish at least third in Australia this weekend though if he was to remain in the hunt and after his off on the first 'proper' stage, something that cost him over 10 minutes, he was unable to score the six points needed to remain in contention, eventually finishing fifth overall.

Loeb thus takes the title, as he is now 21 points up on Gronholm, with just two events to go in New Zealand and Britain - so even if the Finn wins both of those rounds and Loeb was unable to score on either of them, he would still take the 2006 drivers' crown, 1 point up on the Finn.

The big question now though is when will the Frenchman return?

Prior to this weekend's event, speculation suggested that he would be back for Rally New Zealand next month, which runs from November 17-19. However, with the drivers' title now secured, he may opt to put that off until he is completely recovered.

Having said that though, with the manufacturers' still open, Kronos will definitely be eager to get him back and try and beat BP Ford to the constructors' crown - currently they are separated by 16 points, having lost the lead in Turkey - and fallen another eight points behind this weekend in Oz.

Speaking a week or so ago, Loeb said he was eager to return for NZ: "I drive a very fast rally car and yet I get injured by falling off my bike. It is a bit crazy. I would prefer to be fighting for the world title and I try to stay optimistic. It is too early however, to know about the injury. I know that Marcus has an opportunity now. It's a big pressure on him though and I will do my best to come back to New Zealand to win the championship."

Kronos boss, Marc van Dalen though revealed a few days ago that nothing is definite at the moment: "I honestly hope Seb will be back as soon as possible," said van Dalen in the pre-event press conference. "At the moment we don't know [when he will be back though], every day things are improving. We hope to have him in New Zealand, but nothing is certain."