Loeb is well on the way to defending his title

France's Loeb finished 34.6 seconds ahead of Solberg in his Citroen after the 22 stages to secure his fourth consecutive win of the championship.

Loeb extended his lead over Finland's Marcus Gronholm in the drivers' standings to 21 points.

Loeb is now only two wins away from the all-time record of 26 wins held by Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

Loeb took over the lead on Saturday evening when Finland's Gronholm had transmission problems with his Ford in the eighth stage.

He then managed to keep Solberg at bay with the Norwegian hindered by a bad choice of tyres and problems with his Subaru gearbox.

Solberg got on to the podium for the second time this year, following a second place in Mexico in March, and is fourth in the drivers' standings.

Galli, driving a Mitsubishi, became the first Italian to get on to the podium since Piero Liati claimed second in the 1998 San Remo rally.

Britain's Matthew Wilson finished ninth in his Ford.

Gronholm rejoined with a 15-minute penalty and could only finish out of the points in 10th.

Rally of Argentina results:

1. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen 4:06:51.300
2. Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru +00:44.600
3. Gianluigi Galli (Ita) Mitsubishi 03:24.300
4. Manfred Stohl (Aut) Peugeot 03:40.000
5. Daniel Sordo (Spa) Citroen 05:40.200
6. Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru 05:43.800
7. Henning Solberg (Nor) Peugeot 09:30.400
8. Matthew Wilson (GB) Ford 10:34.600
9. Luis Companc Perez (Arg) Ford 10:52.300
10. Marcus Groenholm (Fin) Ford 14:08.700

Drivers' championship:
1 Loeb 56 points
2 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) 35
3 Sordo 24
4 Stohl 18
4 Solberg 18
6 Galli 11

Constructors' standings:
1 Kronos-Citroen 69 pts
2 Ford 57
3 Subaru 51
4 OMV-Peugeot-Norway 31
5 Stobart-Ford 15
6 Red Bull-Skoda 11