Norway's Petter Solberg, who almost missed the race after crashing his Subaru in practice, won the Corsica Rally today to boost his chancesof winning a first world title.
Solberg, who also won the Australian and Cyprus races this year, beat Carlos Sainz of Spain who slipped past Belgium's Francois Duval on the 16th and last stage on the Mediterranean island to take second place.
World champion Marcus Gronholm of Finland was fourth. Twice world champion Sainz, in a Citroen, now leads the title standings by three points from Richard Burns of Britain, who finished eighth, and Solberg. They have 58 points.
There are two rallies left, in Spain - another rally on tarmac - and Britain.
"This is just incredible and what the mechanics have done is incredible. The feeling now is almost too much," said Solberg.
Subaru mechanics had to work through the night on Thursday to repair Solberg's car after it almost fell off a cliff after he skidded and crashed into a telegraph pole during the pre-race "shakedown".
Solberg, still shaken after his accident, drove conservatively on Friday but took a grip on the race the following day when rain caused problems.
"I've been so nervous," the 28-year-old Norwegian said. "I haven't slept for two days, just been drinking a lot of coffee to keep awake."
Favourite Sebastien Loeb spun his Citroen on the eighth stage, ruining his chances of victory, but Solberg's Pirelli tyres enabled him to win the 10th, 11th and 12th stages.
Leading by 17.9 seconds overnight, Solberg did not hold back and had doubled that lead after the first two stages of the final day.
Loeb won all four stages today and, but for his spin which cost him 10 minutes, he would have challenged for his second consecutive win after the Sanremo rally.
The Frenchman is far from out of the world title race, however, with 55 points.
"It (the accident) cost me victory," said Loeb. "We were on track to win it but I made an error, and that cost us everything. It's a real pity."