Banbury's Subaru World Rally Team drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson secured fifth and sixth positions respectively after a trying finale to a tumultuous 52nd Rallye de France Tour de Corse.

Lying eighth with two stages remaining, local talent Brice Tirabassi was denied a World Championship point when he was forced to retire on the day's second stage.

The event was dominated from start to finish by Citroen's Sebastien Loeb.

Pirelli's PZero control tyres continued to play a role in deciding the outcome of round 13 of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship season as a succession of punctures among the frontrunners on the abrasive and uneven roads saw the leaderboard change almost stage-on-stage.

Solberg and Phil Mills climbed to fourth overall after the first stage of the morning when Ford's Mikko Hirvonen suffered a puncture on the abrasive asphalt.

However the same fate befell the Norwegian on the following stage, the second and last of the morning, when he too lost one minute with a front right puncture, sliding into fifth once again. On the afternoon's repeat pass of the same stage, Solberg again suffered a puncture Solberg said: "We had a puncture on the final stage of the morning ten kilometres from the end of the stage, and then again in the final stage, so it's disappointing but that's what can happen.

"I think the first was a slow puncture as both times I didn't hit anything. After that I drove smart, just taking it easy to get to the finish. I knew we didn't have time to stop and change the wheel, and that it would be quicker to just drive to the finish of both stages.

"We've tried so many things with the car on this rally with different set-ups, and we have improved areas. That's the problem of not having done any testing though — we make these changes on a rally.

"Some changes made the car better, some worse, but that's how it goes. I'm happy with my performance on this rally though. We had a couple of punctures, but nobody could say I didn't try! Now we look to Japan and going back to gravel on all new routes. I've never seen the stages before but I look forward to them."

In two weeks, from October 30 to November 2, crews travel to the Rally Japan, the home event for Subaru.