OLBIA, Italy (AFP) - Defending world champion Petter Solberg, driving a Subaru, won the Rally of Italy to keep likely successor Sebastien Loeb of France waiting to confirm his place as 2004 champion.
Frenchman Loeb was second on Sunday and although his world title lead was cut to 26 points by Norwegian Solberg, he is still overwhelming favourite to wrap up his first world title with just three rounds left.
It was Solberg's third win in a row having taken the honours in Great Britain and Japan last month and his win here was never in doubt as he went into the final day with a 1min 11sec lead over Loeb.
By the end, he had extended his advantage to 2min 7.9secs over the Frenchman and 3:20.9 in front of Spain's Carlos Sainz who was third in another Citroen.
Estonia's Markko Martin, driving a Ford Focus, had been pushing hard to unseat Sainz but he was forced to retire on the 16th stage with a broken turbo.
With his win, Solberg has now reached five wins this season - the same as Loeb.