After two rounds of near misses, Sebastien Loeb has finally reached the top of the podium in the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship.

The Team Peugeot Total driver and pole sitter battled for a hard-fought victory at the Coyote World RX of Belgium on Sunday at the Circuit Jules Tacheny in Mettet—his first win in the series since 2016, following back-to-back runner-up results to open this season. 

PSRX Volkswagen Sweden’s Petter Solberg charged through the field from sixth place on lap two to finish as runner-up, 0.447 seconds behind the winner. Meanwhile, Loeb’s teammate Timmy Hansen placed third to round out a breakthrough, double-podium day for Peugeot.

VICTORY for @SebastienLoeb & 3rd place for @Timmy_Hansen after a fantastic final in Round 3 of #WorldRX ‼?? This double podium @MettetRX is a great reward for the Team @Peugeot @TotalRacingENG, which has been working hard to launch this new official program right after @dakar pic.twitter.com/0BT8Z2Obb8

— Peugeot Sport (@peugeotsport) May 13, 2018

In a contact-filled start to the race, Loeb grabbed the lead on lap one and held onto it until taking his joker on lap four, allowing EKS Audi Sport’s Mattias Ekstrom to surge to the front. 

The 44-year-old Frenchman Loeb eventually surged back to the front on lap six when Ekstrom finally took his joker.

Loeb’s third-round victory came after back-to-back runner-up results at Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain on April 16 and at Montalegre in Portugal two weeks ago. It also snapped a three-race win streak dating back to last season by defending champion Johan Kristoffersson, who finished fifth in Sunday’s final for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden.

Loeb currently sits second in the overall World RX standings with 66 points, while Kristoffersson maintains the nine-point lead he took into the start of the third round.