"Victory always tastes sweet," said Sébastien Loeb, at the final service halt on the in Olbia. "But this one is special. For Daniel, it’s a historic moment. Knowing just how much I want to beat Carlos Sainz’s record myself, I can easily imagine exactly how Daniel is feeling now, after becoming the first co-driver to bag 25 wins."

The normally exuberant Daniel Elena was for once serious after he had posed for photographs wearing a football shirt in the colors of Monaco, emblazoned with the number 25.

"This feeling is indescribable," he explained. "It’s an intense happiness that is hard to put into words. This win makes things very interesting from a championship point of view. I said before the rally that we had to stay on our guard. The start of this event showed that our key rivals, particularly Marcus [Grönholm], are well and truly up there – even if luck is not on their side at the moment. Taking our championship lead up to 31 points is therefore a good job. Thanks to Xevi Pons, the Kronos Total Citroen team has also made a useful step forward in the manufacturer’s championship," Seb added.

Xevi Pons provided the team with another solid boost by claiming the manufacturer points for third place.

"Sardinia is a very difficult rally," said the Spaniard. "I feel less at ease here than I did in Argentina, maybe because of the narrow stages. This means that I still need to improve in this type of conditions. Securing the manufacturer points for third place was my priority, so I was very careful throughout the second half of the rally. These points are the best way for me to repay the team for their limitless support from the start of the season."

After two consecutive podiums on the asphalt of Catalunya and Corsica in Sardinia, Dani Sordo claimed his first podium on gravel.

"For me, this is almost worth more," he said. "Gravel is a surface that I am still learning, and I feel I am improving on it all the time."