Loeb won the Rally of Mexico for a third year in a row

Defending champion Sebastien Loeb wrapped up an easy win at the Rally of Mexico to close the gap on championship leader Mikko Hirvonen by one point.

Loeb, who led from the second day, guided his Citroen through the final four stages to win by a margin of one minute and 0.6 seconds.

Australian Subaru driver Chris Atkinson was second with Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, who led on day one, third.

The win was 34-year-old Loeb's 38th victory, a record for the championship.

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Hirvonen was fourth and now has 21 points to Loeb's 20 with Latvala on 16 after three rounds.

Loeb's victory saw the Frenchman, who is chasing a fifth world crown this season, claim a third consecutive win in Mexico.

"There's always a bit more pressure when you are some points behind," said the Frenchman, who had crashed out in Sweden last month.

"But OK, I always expected to do a good job here in Mexico.

"This rally has not been so easy, I had a big battle with Jari-Matti but we got the result we came for finally," he told the official wrc.com website.

Briton Matthew Wilson was sixth for Stobart Ford.

Rally of Mexico result:

1. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) Citroen C4 3hr 33min 29.9sec
2. Chris Atkinson (AUS) Subaru Impreza at 1:06.1
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Ford Focus RS 1:39.7
4. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Ford Focus RS 3:38.7
5. Henning Solberg (NOR) Ford Focus RS 4:57.9
6. Matthew Wilson (GBR) Ford Focus RS 6:28.9
7. Federico Villagra (ARG) Ford Focus RS 19:03.0
8. Ricardo Trivino (MEX) Peugeot 206 WRC 21:17.3
9. Sebastien Ogier (FRA) Citroen C2 S1600 25:24.9
10. Jaan Molder (BEL) Suzuki 4:00:26.7

Standings

1. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 21
2 Sebastien Loeb (France) 20
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) 16
4. Chris Atkinson (Australia) 14
5. Gianluigi Galli (Italy) 9
6. Petter Solberg (Norway) 9
7. Francois Duval (Belgium) 5
8. Henning Solberg (Norway) 4
9. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) 4
10. Matthew Wilson (Britain) 3
11. Daniel Sordo (Spain) 3
12. Toni Gardemeister (Finland) 2
13. Jean-Marie Cuoq (France) 2
14. Federico Villagra (Argentina) 2
15. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Sweden) 1
16. Juho Haenninen (Finland) 1
17. Ricardo Trivino (Mexico) 1

Constructors

1. BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi WRT 37
2. Citroen Total WRT 25
3. Subaru WRT 25
4. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT 19
5. Munchi's Ford WRT 6
6. Suzuki WRT 5