AFP - Sebastien Loeb moved closer to an eighth consecutive drivers' title with a win in the the Rally of Catalunya, the penultimate leg of the season, here on Sunday.

Loeb's 67th career win and the fifth this year assured his team Citroen of the manufacturers' title ahead of the closing rally in Wales to come.

He added this to his wins in 2011 in Mexico, Sardinia, Argentina and Finland.

The French ace beat his title challenger Mikko Hirvonen by over two minutes with the Finn's compatriot and Ford Fiesta teammate Jari-Matti Latvala in third, 2:32.sec adrift.

Loeb goes into next month's final rally with an eight point advantage over Hirvonen in the overall drivers' standings.

For Citroen this was the French competitor's seventh world title and their fourth consecutive title since 2008.

"It was a really good rally for us coming from three bad rallies," said Loeb.

"We did the perfect race I would say with no mistakes. Mikko has taken a lot of points so we stay very close in the championship but the point for the power stage could be very important."

Loeb had led in Catalunya from the opening day on Friday. He posted the quickest time in Sunday's third stage, with the rally's closing stage captured by British driver Kris Meeke in the Mini John Cooper.

Loeb left Catalunya having made history after overtaking legendary Finn Markku Alen's record of 801 special stage wins.

A minute's silence was held before he received his trophy as a mark of respect for Marco Simoncelli, the Italian Honda MotoGP rider who died from injuries sustained in a horrific crash in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

Simoncelli was a passionate rally supporter and last month had tested a Ford Fiesta in Britain. There was a possibility that he might compete at next year's rally in Monza.