Gronholm sat pretty at the top of the leaderboard from start to finish

The Finn, who started the day more than 40 seconds ahead, drove "at 95%" to ensure a first win of the season and his fourth in the event in five years.

He finally finished 34.7 seconds ahead of Markko Martin, with Carlos Sainz one minute 44.5 seconds behind.

Citroen's Sebastian Loeb retained his overall lead in the world championship after finishing fourth.

Gronholm led the rally from stage six and only looked troubled on the fast roads around Jyvaskyla when he lost fourth gear and was forced into a gearbox change on Saturday.

The double world champion experienced no setbacks over Sunday's closing stages having stated all he wanted to do was "go safely and try to finish".

"We've waited a long time for this," he said. "This is certainly a victory that we've had to work for, but that makes it all worthwhile.

"I wasn't completely confident when we started the rally, but my feeling got better and better and we were able to keep the lead without pushing.

It is enormously important because even though we never doubted Marcus was the fastest driver perhaps he did Corrado Provera Peugeot team principal

"The gearbox problem on the second day really worried me, as it meant that our top speed was limited to 160kph, but we lost less time than I thought, so the final day was a question of driving safely but quickly to the end."

Martin, last year's winner, was hindered by the side effects of a heavy crash in Argentina which left him shortsighted, a significant problem when judging breaking points.

"Without that crash in Argentina it would have been a lot better," the Estonian said. "But ifs and buts don't count. This is the situation."

The Ford driver was also troubled by the early morning sunlight, but while he was no real threat to Gronholm's superiority, he was also in no danger of being overhauled by Citroen's Sainz who was more than a minute back.

Gronholm's victory moves him up to third in the championship standings on 42 points, level with Martin. Loeb leads the title race on 66 points.

"For the championship, it has been a good operation here," Loeb said. "A 22-point lead is excellent and I think it will be a real fight for second place."

Final standings

1. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Peugeot
three hours seven minutes and 16.1 seconds
2. Markko Martin (Est) Ford at 34.7 seconds
3. Carlos Sainz (Spa) Citroen at 1:44.5
4. Sebastian Loeb (Fra) Citroen at 2:23.3
5. Janne Tuohino (Fin) Ford at 2:36.7
6. Jani Paasonen (Fin) Skoda at 4:36.2
7. Francois Duval (Bel) Ford at 5:51.0
8. Toni Gardemeister (Fin) Skoda at 6:03.2
9. Daniel Carlsson (Swe) Peugeot at 6:41.1
10. Henning Solberg (Nor) Peugeot at 7:04.6