Gronholm cruises to first Monte win

Having started the final leg with a comfortable lead of two minutes and five seconds, Gronholm eased himself to the finish, winning with a margin of just over one minute.

This is the double world champion's first victory in the prestigious event and his first since last August's Rally of Finland.

Incredibly, it is also the Finn's first win on an asphalt rally, and his first WRC victory in a car that is not a Peugeot.

Gronholm won 18 rallies and two world titles for the French manufacturer in his seven seasons with the team.

The victory also marks a return to the top step of the podium for Ford, with the Blue Oval's first WRC triumph in 18 rallies. Markko Martin won the last event for the team, at the 2004 Catalunya Rally.

"I was not pushing at all today," Gronholm said. "I had a vibration in the car and some smoke inside and I was really afraid we might not finish at one point. This is a fantastic result and it was very difficult rally."

Sebastien Loeb eventually finished second, after a titanic scrap with Toni Gardemeister throughout the final day.

Loeb went into the final stage, the third running of the famous Col de Turini, just 6.2 seconds behind Gardemeister. However, Loeb was 27.5 seconds quicker than the Finn over SS18 and snatched the position in the end.

"I had no information in the stage on him other than I was six seconds behind," Loeb said. "I pushed hard, but this morning he has driven very well."

It was a remarkable comeback for Loeb, who has the super-rally regulations to thank for his podium finish.

Loeb won nine of the 16 stages run on the Monte Carlo Rally, but in previous years, he would have been forced to retire if he had gone off the road like he did on SS6.

Thanks to rules introduced last year, however, Loeb was allowed to restart with a five-minute penalty for every stage he missed.

Because the damage to Loeb's Citroen Xsara was small and the accident occurred on the final stage of the day, the Frenchman was able to claw back most of that five-minute defect and finish second.

Gardemeister, without a regular drive this season, drove superbly on the final day. He won SS14, the 14.45 km stage from Col St Roch to Lantosque, and was inside the top five drivers on five of the day's six stages.

"Loeb was extremely quick with these kind of studded tyres," Gardemeister said. "He was pushing like hell, I think. [Third] was an OK result though, yes? We had tried to keep Loeb behind, but he was quick. He was very quick, actually."

Privateer Manfred Stohl finished fourth after taking a huge gamble on the final loop of stages by being the only one of the top four to run on slick tyres. Gronholm, Loeb and Gardemeister chose studded winter tyres.

The gamble nearly paid off. Stohl won the day's final two stages, closing to within 19.2 seconds of Gardemeister, having been more than a minute and 20 seconds behind with two tests to run.

"The slick was the right tyre but we chose too soft a compound," Stohl said. "We had a puncture and were on mouse on one of the tyres at the back. In the last kilometre, there was no tyre at all anymore."

The Subaru pair of Stephane Sarrazin and Chris Atkinson remained in their overnight fifth and sixth positions at the finish, but both had continued to push throughout the final day.

"I'm very happy," Sarrazin said. "We had a very difficult start on Friday, and it was very tough for me on the snow, but I learnt a lot on this rally. A top five is a good position for me to finish in."

Atkinson put in his best stage performance of his debut Monte Carlo Rally, with the third fastest time on SS14.

"It's an amazing result," Atkinson said. "We never expected this and I have to thank the entire team for such a good team effort. We didn't get any points last year until New Zealand, so to start the season with a few points is great. I'm looking forward to Sweden now."

Gronholm's Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen moved into the points-paying positions in seventh on the final day, benefiting from bad luck to befall Red Bull Skoda driver Gilles Panizzi.

Panizzi, who was running as high as second on Friday, touched the side of a rock on the first corner of SS13, breaking the front left wheel.

He fought back in SS14 to retake the position from Hirvonen, however the Finn got the upper hand back in SS15, when Panizzi dropped down the classification after spinning and hitting a rock that tore the left-rear wheel from the car.

Panizzi completed the stage on three wheels, but the delay cost the Skoda driver three minutes through the stage, and he later incurred a penalty when he checked in two minutes late at the time control on the entry to service.

Panizzi eventually finished 10th with Dani Sordo taking the final point in eighth.

British rookie Matthew Wilson finished the event in 15th despite going off the road after the flying finish of SS14 and damaging the bodywork of his Ford Focus.

Final results (top 15):

Pos  Driver        Make     Time
 1.  Gronholm      Ford     4h 11:43.9
 2.  Loeb          Citroen  +   1:01.8
 3.  Gardemeister  Peugeot  +   1:23.1
 4.  Stohl         Peugeot  +   1:42.3
 5.  Sarrazin      Subaru   +   3:20.2
 6.  Atkinson      Subaru   +   5:02.4
 7.  Hirvonen      Ford     +   6:19.5
 8.  Sordo         Citroen  +   7:15.2
 9.  Pons          Citroen  +   7:42.9
10.  Panizzi       Skoda    +   9:29.8
11.  Kopecky       Skoda    +  12:19.1
12.  Burri         Peugeot  +  14:12.8
13.  Aigner        Skoda    +  17:46.1
14.  Tsjoen        Ford     +  20:18.0
15.  Wilson        Ford     +  21:01.3