Running first on the dusty Sardinian stages did little to help Loeb's cause however, allowing the Finnish pair to make it a grandstand finish yestersay, with the Frenchman just doing enough over the final five stages to secure his 40th WRC win.

Latvala had to settle for third place, five seconds down on his team-mate, while Gigi Galli continued the strong form of the Stobart Ford squad as he took fourth place ahead of Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo.

Hirvonen's solid podium ensures he retains the lead of the drivers' standings on 43 points heading into the seventh round of the season in Greece, although his advantage is now just three points over Loeb.

Chris Atkinson was the first of the Subarus home in sixth place, and he stays third in the standings on 31 points. Latvala is fourth on 24.

Loeb started Sunday's final leg with a lead of 29.4 seconds but that quickly diminished as Hirvonen took the day's opening stage by 10 seconds from the C4 driver, who was third quickest.

Loeb hit back with victory on stage 14 and managed to stay in touch with the charging Fords over the final three stages as Hirvonen and Latvala shared the wins.

"Our 40th WRC win was certainly hard work," admitted Loeb.

"The weekend was very frustrating at times, especially because of all the 'road sweeping' that had to be done, but we managed to hold on to a big enough lead to finish on top.

"There was little more we could have done. We didn't make any mistakes and our C4 performed absolutely perfectly.

"Not to have won would have been a huge disappointment.

"The weekend showed once again that our car is competitive over this sort of terrain, and that's encouraging for the coming rounds."

Hirvonen, meanwhile, revealed that his battle with Loeb over Sunday afternoon's final stages could have been even closer had he not decided to content himself with second place.

"This afternoon I started to go flat out to try to take time from Loeb, but I realised it wasn't going to happen so I decided not to take any more risks and dropped my pace," he said.

"Jari-Matti's split times were good so I couldn't ease off too much. I needed more speed on Friday but apart from that, this was a good rally.

"If I continue to lead the championship and be first in the start order, then I need to find more speed on the first day when conditions are slippery.

"I'm a little disappointed, but if I can't win then I need to take second, and that's what I did here."