Sebastien Loeb won the Rally of Germany on Sunday to claim his ninth win here in a decade with Jari-Matti Latvala second and Mikko Hirvonen third.
Loeb finished 2min00.1 clear of Latvala, with Hirvonen 2mins31.4 adrift, to claim the 74th win of his career and strengthen his lead at the top of the World Rally Championship Drivers' table.
Having led from the first timed practice on Thursday, Loeb proved again he is at home on the twisting roads around Trier in the Moselle valley.
He first won the Germany rally in 2002.
The 38-year-old Citroen driver opened a 20 second lead on Friday and extended the gap on Saturday as his Ford rival Petter Solberg damaged his car's right rear suspension by hitting a rock after an error.
Loeb went into the final day with a lead of 1min42 and won the ninth rally in the WRC schedule by taking nine of the 15 stages including the final one on Sunday on the streets of Trier.
He said afterwards: “The Rallye Deutschland is a tricky rally with narrow roads, where it is easy to make mistakes.
“A lot of drivers have made them.”
“We managed to not make a mistake from the beginning and I drove very clean; the result is there to see.”
The next rally on the WRC calender will be the Wales Rally Great Britain starting on September 13 in Cardiff, the 10th of 13 in a season which will culminate in Spain's Rally de Espana on November 11. - AFP
RESULTS
1 Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen - 3hr41min52.0
2 Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Ford +2min00.0
3 Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Citroen +2min31.3
4 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Ford +3min24.3
5 Chris Atkinson (Australia) Mini +9min10.4
6 Sebastien Ogier (France) Skoda +9min50.5
7 Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Skoda +12min22.5
8 Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) +Citroen +12min50.1
9 Daniel Sordo (Spain) Mini +14min16.9
10 Mathieu Arzeno (France) Peugeot +15min20.1
POINTS after 10 of 13 rounds
DRIVERS
1 Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen Total World Rally Team - 199
2. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Citroen Total World Rally Team - 145
3. Petter Solberg (Norway) Ford World Rally Team - 104
4. Mads Ostberg (Norway) Mads Ostberg - 102
5. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Ford World Rally Team - 87
6. Evgeny Novikov (Russia) M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 55
7. Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) Czech Ford Rally Team - 38
8. Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Citroen Junior World Rally Team - 32
9. Daniel Sordo (Spain) Mini WRC Team - 31
10. Sebastien Ogier (France) Volkswagen Motorsport - 31
11. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) Qatar World Rally Team - 27
12. Ott Taenak (Estonia) M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 26
13. Armindo Araujo (Portugal) Armindo Araujo WRT - 11
14. Chris Atkinson (Australia) WRC Team Mini Portugal - 10
15. Francois Delecour (France) M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 8
16. Dennis Kuipers (Netherlands) M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 8
17. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Volkswagen Motorsport - 7
18. Henning Solberg (Norway) Henning Solberg - 6
19. Pierre Campana (France) Mini WRC Team - 6
20. Jari Ketomaa (Finland) Ketomaa WRT - 6
21. Matti Rantanen (Finland) Matti Rantanen - 6
22. Patrik Sandell (Sweden) Mini WRC Team - 4
23. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Saudi Arabia) Yazeed Al Rajhi - 4
24. Ken Block (U.S.) Monster World Rally Team - 4
25. Eyvind Brynildsen (Norway) Eyvind Brynildsen - 1
26. Ricardo Trivino (Mexico) Ricardo Trivino - 1
27. Peter van Merksteijn Jr. (Netherlands) Van Merksteijn Motorsports - 1
28. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (Qatar) Seashore Qatar Rally Team - 1
29. Manfred Stohl (Austria) Brazil World Rally Team - 1
30. Mathieu Arzeno (France) Mathieu Arzeno - 1
CONSTRUCTORS
1 Citroen Total World Rally Team - 323
2 Ford World Rally Team - 198
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team - 127
4 Citroen Junior World Rally Team - 54
5 Qatar World Rally Team - 51
6 Adapta World Rally Team - 47
7 Mini WRC Team - 26
8. Brazil World Rally Team - 16