Loeb takes perfect first home win

This is believed to be the first time a driver has won every stage on a rally event in WRC history.

Loeb, who was crowned Champion for the second consecutive year at the last round in Japan, extended his margin over Toni Gardemeister by more than 20 seconds on the final day to win by nearly two minutes.

Despite having a comfortable margin over third-placed Petter Solberg, Gardemeister continued to push, recording the second and third fastest times respectively on the final two stages.

Solberg finished a comfortable third ahead of teammate Stephane Sarrazin, who equalled his best WRC result with fourth. Sarrazin finished in the same position in last year's Catalunya Rally, in only his third drive for Subaru.

Roman Kresta made it two Fords in the top five and the blue oval's best result of the season so far.

Skoda scored their best finish of the season with sixth for Alex Bengue, ahead of Citroen privateer Xavier Pons.

Peugeot's Nicolas Bernardi snatched a point on the final stage of his first WRC event. Despite being 27 seconds behind Mitsubishi's Gigi Galli overnight, he continued his strong performances on the final stages and was only beaten by Loeb on SS12, the 31.8km run through Pont De Calzola.

Top 20 result:

Pos  Driver        Make        Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen     3h 35:46.7
 2.  Gardemeister  Ford        +   1:51.7
 3.  Solberg       Subaru      +   2:42.0
 4.  Sarrazin      Subaru      +   3:34.2
 5.  Kresta        Ford        +   5:21.5
 6.  Bengue        Skoda       +   5:27.8
 7.  Pons          Citroen     +   5:41.8
 8.  Bernardi      Peugeot     +   6:32.1
 9.  Galli         Mitsubishi  +   6:37.8
10.  Rovanpera     Mitsubishi  +   9:22.5
11.  Vouilloz      Skoda       +  10:29.5
12.  Kopecky       Skoda       +  10:49.3
13.  Warmbold      Ford        +  11:47.1
14.  Baldacci      Fiat        +  20:42.9
15.  Sordo         Citroen     +  23:11.5
16.  Latvala       Subaru      +  24:07.1
17.  Katajamaki    Suzuki      +  24:51.1
18.  Leandri       Subaru      +  28:42.0
19.  Aava          Suzuki      +  29:01.8
20.  Rautenbach    Citroen     +  29:07.6