Motorsport: Loeb cruises to victory in New Zealand

World champion Sebastien Loeb claimed his second victory of the season when he completed a convincing win in the New Zealand rally today.

Driving a Citroen, the Frenchman finished nearly 50 seconds clear of Finland's former two-time world champion Marcus Gronholm to jump into second place in the 2005 championship race after the fourth rally of the 16-round calendar.

Petter Solberg of Norway leads the title standings by a point after finishing third in his Subaru.

Loeb's Belgian teammate Francois Duval took fourth place to collect his first points of the season ahead of Estonia's Markko Martin and Finn Toni Gardemeister, who are third and fourth in the standings respectively.

Loeb went into Sunday's final leg, made up of four special stages, with a massive lead after dominating the first two days north of Auckland, allowing him to drive conservatively.

Gronholm topped the timesheets in Sunday's first three stages to cut the deficit to 40.1 seconds but the Frenchman won the final stage to extend his advantage to 49.8 seconds and add New Zealand to his win in the season-opening rally in Monaco.

Solberg, who took the previous two rounds in Sweden and Mexico, also eased off the gas on Sunday, finishing 18.9 seconds behind Gronholm but still safely on the podium to keep the championship lead.

- NZPA