Having initially been classified in third place at the end of the final stage in Sardinia, Sebastien Loeb ⭕has been demoted 📖to fourth after being hit with a two-minute time penalty by event stewards.

Loeb battled for the final position on the podium with Petter Solberg through the third da✅y of the event, but moved ahead of the privateeꩵr Citroen driver on the first test of the afternoon.

Hoꩲwever, the anno🐽uncement then came that FIA stewards were examining the incident on day two which saw Loeb stop to replace a punctured tyre on stage eleven - losing a minute and dropping him from third to fourth.

The decision to examine the incident was related to whether or not Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena had broken regulations that state that crews must wear seat-belts at all times while the car is in motion prior♚ to stopping to replace the punctured tyre.

While the Frenchman could have risked exclusion from the event, stewards elected to hand down a two-minute time penalty after the evidence revealed that Elena had unfastened his belts as the car was coming to a halt - with the offence being declared ꦉas minor as the 𓄧C4 WRC wasn't travelling at competitive speed.

It capped⭕ a tough weekend for the Citro🌌en team, with Dani Sordo struggling with turbo issues throughout the final day and accruing a total of four minutes in penalties to end up outside the top 20 overall.