Hirvonen began the final day 72 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger and pulled away on the closing stages to claim the win by an eventual margin of almost two minutes.

Mads Ostberg in his Ford Fiesta finished second, with another Fiesta driver, Evgeny Novikov, completing the podium.

"The last few kilometres felt very long to me, but I managed to keep calm and avoided making mistakes," said Hirvonen.

"I was concentrating on every corner. On the long 21st stage, I was a little worried because we had to drive through heavy rain in the last six kilometres."

Rivals lose ground

Hirvonen's 15th career victory, his first since the Rally of Australia last September, puts the Finn nine points clear of team-mate Sebastien Loeb in the overall standings.

Frenchman Loeb, the eight-time champion, crashed out of the race on opening day.

And it got even better for Hirvonen when Ford duo Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg both fell foul of the treacherous muddy and foggy conditions to slide out of contention on day two.

Solberg recovered sufficiently to take fourth place, although Latvala had too much to do and was forced to settle for 14th.

Nasser Al-Attiyah did not let a late puncture throw him off course as he finished a best-ever fifth, while the same went for sixth-placed Martin Prokop.

Dennis Kuipers wound up in seventh on his maiden appearance for the year, Sebastien Ogier was eighth, Thierry Neuville ninth and Jari Ketomaa 10th.

"It's a good result for me and for Citroen who lead Ford in the constructors championship," added Hirvonen.

The WRC takes a three-week break before returning in South America for the Rally Argentina, starting on April 26.