Motorsport: Loeb matches Sainz

World champion Sebastien Loeb won his first motor rally of Japan yesterday to clinch a record 27th career victory.

The Frenchman, driving a Citroen for the Kronos team, edged out Ford's Marcus Gronholm by 5.6s after 27 stages on the island of Hokkaido.

Loeb, who now leads the Finn by 33 points with five rounds of the world championship left, already held the records for most wins in a single season and most in succession.

He had shared the record of 26 wins with retired Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, Gronholm's teammate and compatriot, finished the rally in third place.