>CARDIFF, Dec 4, 2007 (AFP) - Sebastien Loeb's fourth straight win in the World Rally Championships has drawn him level with the sport's greatest ever and he says he is far from finished yet.
The 33-year-old Frenchman secured the title for another year in the closing Rally of Wales GB, by calmly settling for third place behind Finnish pair Mikko Hirvonen and Marcus Gronholm.
That ensured he had enough points to hold off Gronholm, who started the rally as the only man with a chance of catching the championship leader.
Loeb is just the third man to win four world rally titles after Juha Kankkunen of Finland in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993 and another Finn, Tommi Makinen, who won four in a row from 1996 to 1999.
And as he is under contract with Citroen for the next two years, the chances are that he will leave them behind with un unprecedented fifth world title.
"It's all going to happen very quickly with a lot of tyre-testing sessions planned before the end of the year," said the resident of Monaco.
"The main aim of course will be just that (to win a fifth title).
"We would not settle for second place and I am still with Citroen for another two years.
"It's still a great pleasure for me getting behind the wheel, the battle for victory, the excitement. How long I will continue to feel that way I don't even know myself.
"We are at the top of a great sport and at the moment I just cannot imagine packing it in. I need all that for my own equilibrium.
"One day though, I could always turn my hand to something else."
What that something else might be, Loeb says he has not yet decided, but he is not ruling out one day testing his skills on the Formula One World Championship circuit.
His boyhood hero was Formula 1 legend and fellow Frenchman Alain Prost, who also won four world titles in the 1980s and 90s.
Since Prost's retirement from the sport in 1993, French drivers have failed to make a significant mark in Formula 1 and last year not one Frenchman was involved.
But with Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais signed up for Toro Rosso next year, Loeb could be tempted to follow in his footsteps for the 2010 season.
Already, Loeb has fixed up to test drive a Renault F1 car at the Paul Ricard circuit outside Marseille this week
"Alain Prost is a living legend, so to match what he has achieved even if it is in a different competition means so much to me," he said.
"As for test driving an F1 car, it's just for my own interest. I've been wanting to do that for a while, but have had to be patient and wait for the
opportunity.
"After having driven the protos at the Le Mans circuit - fantastic cars they were - I am looking for new experiences."
Loeb will have one major change to deal with next season as Citroen Sport chief Guy Frequelin, who has been instrumental in the development of Loeb's career, is stepping down.
"Everything I have done and experienced in my career as professional driver has been done with him at my side," he said of his mentor.
"I learned so much from him and we have had some great times together - four world drivers titles and three constructors world titles - just awesome.
"We knew that it had to come to an end one day and that's it. We just have to accept it but it will be hard to take."
