Sebastien Loeb took his first world rally championship win in more than five years in Spain on Sunday while fellow-Frenchman Sebastien Ogier regained the championship lead from Belgian Thierry Neuville.
Loeb, a nine-times world champion, is competing only in selected races for Citroen after retiring at the end of the 2012 season.
The win was the 79th of his career and he beat M-Sport Ford's Ogier, the reigning champion, by 2.9 seconds.
Hyundai's Neuville finished fourth and now trails Ogier by three points going into the final round of the season in Australia.
Loeb's Citroen team-mate Craig Breen finished a difficult weekend in ninth.
Damage to his C3 rear wing both on Friday and Saturday cost him time and left him hugely frustrated.
"I wanted to enjoy this day so much but I haven’t been able to at all," he said yesterday.
