Loeb led from the second of the rally's 17 stages

France's four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb won the Rally of Sardinia for his 40th career success.

The Citroen driver hung on to win by 10.6 seconds from championship leader Mikko Hirvonen to close to within three points of the Finn in the standings.

Hirvonen's compatriot and fellow Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala came home in third, 15.3 secs down.

"It's been difficult and I've had to push all the way, but it was important to get good points," said Loeb.

"Mikko will still lead the championship, but OK, I'm happy - and of course win number 40 is nice for me."

Loeb had a 29.4 seconds lead heading into the final day, but Hirvonen chipped away at the advantage by winning two stages.

But he was left cursing an incident on stage 14, which was won by Loeb.

"About 2km from the start, I went off line and hit a rock," he explained.

606: DEBATE Is Loeb heading for a fifth straight WRC title?

"I thought I had a puncture. Even though it turned out to be okay, I didn't want to take more risks so I backed off."

Latvala took the final podium place after an incredible recovery from 14th place on Friday.

The Finn had led the rally after the first stage but dropped 1:30min on the next when his car hit a bank and lost a tyre.

"On Friday I would have been happy to finish fifth - so third is fantastic," said Latvala.

"I had a very good day on Saturday (winning every stage) and a good fight today, but we made the decision that it would be second for Mikko and third for me.

"It's important for me to get some points because I haven't done so well on the last two rallies. This has been a good confidence boost ahead of Greece."

Hirvonen now has 43 points to Loeb's 40, with Aussie Chris Atkinson still in third for Subaru despite a poor rally which saw him finish sixth.