CARDIFF -- Norway's Petter Solberg had a first world rally title in his sights on Saturday after Citroen ordered Sebastien Loeb of France to play safe for the manufacturers' championship.

Solberg dominated the second leg of the title-deciding Rally of Britain for Subaru, winning all eight stages to take a comfortable lead of 41.2 seconds over Loeb into Sunday's final three runs.

Even a late scare, when he hit a pothole on stage 14 and damaged his steering and suspension, failed to slow his progress.

"The rally is not over until you have gone over the finish line. And everything could happen," said Solberg. "You just have to cross your fingers and try hard."

Loeb, who leads Solberg by a point in the championship, crossed his fingers but was unable to try as hard as he wanted.

Citroen, five points ahead of stablemates Peugeot in the standings, had told him to concentrate on securing the manufacturers' title in their first full season.

The decision was both painful and controversial, dashing Loeb's hopes of becoming France's second world rally champion since Didier Auriol became the first in 1994.

"As a company we choose to win the manufacturers' title because it sends out a unique message," said Citroen chairman Claude Satinet.

"Petter is going very fast today," added team boss Guy Frequelin. "I don't think even if Sebastien was driving hard that he could catch him.

"We have asked our drivers to stay on the road and keep him (Solberg) on edge. It's been an amazing season and all our fingers are crossed for the title."

Loeb could only hope for a last-gasp stroke of luck.

"In Catalunya we were leading by 50 seconds with three stages to the end," he said. "A mistake in the tire choice and everything changed that.

"We are fighting for the manufacturers' championship ... to get ahead of Petter would have taken too much risk."

Citroen's decision followed the exit of their Spanish title contender Carlos Sainz on Friday, leaving them with just Loeb and fourth placed Briton Colin McRae to score points.

Peugeot had Finland's Harri Rovanpera in fifth and Belgian Freddy Loix in seventh after 2002 champion Marcus Gronholm of Finland went out.

Max Mosley, president of the governing FIA, told reporters that Citroen would face no sanctions.

"It's a question of one manufacturer versus another manufacturer in a very clear situation and you can't really object to them," he said.

"It's not the ideal but there are two competitions going on and they can win one of them and they might not win the other, so it's their decision," added Mosley.

Solberg's Finnish team mate Tommi Makinen, in his final championship appearance before retirement, was in third place a massive two minutes and 25.2 seconds behind.