World championship leader Marcus Gronholm won the Cyprus Rally after a dramatic and incident-filled final leg on Sunday.

The Finnish driver finished 56.8 seconds ahead of reigning world champion Richard Burns, his Peugeot team mate.

Four-times champion Tommi Makinen was third in a Subaru, but overnight leader Colin McRae had to settle for sixth place.

The Scot rolled his Ford Focus in treacherous conditions on two stages on the final day and also fell victim to a timing error.

Some of those stages were the worst I have ever encountered in rallying Marcus Gronholm

His demise allowed Gronholm to claim his second win of the season and move 12 points clear of Burns in the overall standings after five races.

"It is a fantastic feeling to win," admitted the former world champion.

"This was a very tiring and difficult rally. The weather was terrible at times and some of those stages were the worst I have ever encountered in rallying.

"But it was a great result for my team and puts us in a strong position in the championship."

Meanwhile McRae, who has intimated he may leave Ford unless the reliability of his car improves, was left to rue another near-miss.

Having conceded 15 seconds on stage 15 by easing off to reduce the risk of a costly error, McRae flipped his car on the 16th to lose more than 50 seconds to the Finn.

McRae rolled his car twice on the final day

A further roll on the 18th special added insult to injury as McRae limped home in sixth.

"We think we went over twice in the accident," he said later.

"The car landed on its wheels and the power steering failed immediately. It just wasn't our day."

McRae was not the only driver to experience problems on the final day.

Ford team-mate Markko Martin, of Estonia, also rolled on the 16th stage, while Austrian Manfred Stohl flipped his 2001-spec Ford Focus RS on stage 15 and retired.

Norway's Petter Solberg also rolled gently over the first loop of stages on Sunday but recovered to finish just out of the points.

The drivers move on to Argentina for the next race of the championship on May 16.

Result of the Cyprus Rally after Sunday's final stages:

1. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 4 hours 21 minutes 25.7 seconds
2. Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 56.8 seconds behind
3. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 59.0
4. Harri Rovanpera (Finland) Peugeot 1:18.7
5. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 2:17.9
6. Colin McRae (Britain) Ford 2:45.5
7. Armin Schwarz (Germany) Hyundai 2:47.4
8. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 4:22.6
9. Kenneth Eriksson (Sweden) Skoda 6:17.7
10. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 8:12.2

Drivers championship standings:

1. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 31 points
2. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 20
3. Richard Burns (Britain) Britain 19
4. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 14
5. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Ford 9
5. Harri Rovanpera (Finland) Peugeot 9