Sébastien Loeb, despite being caught flat-footed and finishing a subdued fourth in the Rally Finland, managed to extend his world championship lead to 22 points. The Frenchman had no need to chance his arm once Petter Solberg crashed, and he is now more than two wins clear.
Loeb has won four times in nine rallies this season but found his Citroën ill-suited to the jumps and awkward tightening corners of one of the quickest rallies on the calendar, in which average speeds can exceed 80mph.
"I am not really happy, because [at] the beginning of the rally we were not fast enough," Loeb said after finishing behind his team-mate Carlos Sainz. "We need to adapt the car and I need more experience in these conditions."
The local hero and double world champion Marcus Gronholm ended a 15-month drought to take the first victory for Peugeot's troublesome 307 after both his team-mates crashed and he lost top gear, forcing the team to refit the original gearbox, which had been replaced when it became noisy.
"I think Marcus still has some chance of being world champion - we just have to win the next eight rallies," Gronholm's team director Corrado Provera said.
Last year's victor Markko Martin was cheered on by 10,000 fellow Estonians, but was no threat this time in his Ford. Second place was nevertheless an exceptional result, since he still has cloudy vision in his left eye as a result of an 110mph accident in Argentina three weeks ago.
"Mentally, I could have gone a lot faster but if you can't see, it's stupid to take big risks," Martin said. "I decided to go as quickly as I felt comfortable."
Though his vision may well improve in the next few weeks, there is a possibility that the damage is permanent.
