Motorsport/Rally of Sardinia:Marcus Gronholm won the Rally of Sardinia on Sunday to take over the lead in the championship from Sebastien Loeb after the triple world champion crashed out.
Finland's Gronholm, in the main BP-Ford works team, won by 29.2 seconds from Ford's Mikko Hirvonen in second. Spain's Dani Sordo in his Citroen finished third.
Gronholm now leads Loeb by seven points at the top of the drivers' standings after the Frenchman spun into a ditch on the first stage of the final leg.
Citroen driver Loeb, who had been chasing his fourth win in a row this year and third successive victory in Italy, led the race after day one and two and had looked set to extend his overall advantage.
Gronholm, recording his second win of the season after victory
in Sweden, triumphed despite failing to win a stage on the final
day.
Hirvonen won three stages but was too far adift to threaten
Gronholm's position.
Norway's Henning Solberg in the Stobart-Ford also claimed two stages on the day but missed out on a podium place as Sordo picked up his third top three finish of the season, his second in the last three races.
Henning's brother Petter ended up in fifth spot in the Subaru.
Champions Ford are now 21 points clear of Citroen in the manufacturers' standings. The rally of Sardinia was the seventh in the 16-race calendar.