 Loeb now trails Gronholm by seven points |
Marcus Gronholm profited from a rare error by Sebastien Loeb to win the Rally of Italy and take over the lead in the world championship standings. Triple world champion Loeb led going into the last day but spun his Citroen into a ditch on Sunday's opening stage.
That ruined the Frenchman's hopes of a fourth consecutive win and allowed Finn Gronholm to win the race in Sardinia.
Gronholm's Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen was second with Spain's Dani Sordo third in his Citroen.
It was an action-packed final day with Gronholm himself losing 20 seconds after a first-stage spin.
But Loeb's mishap proved more serious with the Citroen driver ending up trapped in a ditch after spinning on a narrow part of the course.
Gronholm had trailed Loeb by three points in the overall championship going into the Rally of Italy but now leads by seven.
Champions Ford are now 21 points clear of Citroen in the manufacturers' standings.
The Rally of Italy was the seventh round of the 16-leg world championship.
Rally of Italy final standings
1. Marcus Gronholm (FIN) Ford Focus 3hr 48min 42.0sec
2. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Ford Focus at 29.2sec
3. Dani Sordo (ESP) Citroen C4 1:21.8
4. Henning Solberg (NOR) Ford Focus 1:36.6
5. Petter Solberg (NOR) Subaru Impreza 2:34.2
6. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Mitsubishi Lancer 5:02.1
7. Manfred Stohl (AUT) Citroen Xsara 5:28.6
8. Juho Hanninen (FIN) Mitsubishi Lancer 9:31.7
9. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Ford Focus 11:27.7
10. Chris Atkinson (AUS) Subaru Impreza 16:19.4
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