Gronholm was never seriously troubled after taking the lead

Finn Gronholm finished 38.6 seconds ahead of his French rival, while Norwegian Petter Solberg was third.

There were no changes in the top six positions during Sunday's final five stages, with Mikko Hirvonen fourth following his second stage win.

Henning Solberg was fifth and early race leader Chris Atkinson of Australia had to settle for sixth position.

Gronholm never lost his lead after taking it on Friday to win the 28th rally of his career and third in 2007.

The two-time world champion holds a nine-point advantage over Loeb in the overall standings ahead of his home rally in Finland on 3 August.

"We didn't have any problems this weekend. The rally was much better than last year," Gronholm said.

"Now we have expanded our lead in the championship but there is still a long way to go."

Loeb admitted that the tough terrain had proved too much for his tyres, one of which was shredded on Saturday.

"It is really tough on the tyres here and one is always apprehensive about how they are going to stand up to the huge stones on the surface," the three-time world champion said.

"Sadly we had a puncture at the end of the 14th special stage which could have been down to me demanding too much of the tyres."

Result: