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Rome - World championship leader Sebastien Ogier won the Rally of Sardinia on Saturday having dominated the seventh leg of the world rally championship throughout.
The VW Polo driver finished ahead of the Ford Focus of Belgian Thierry Neuville with Ogier's teammate, Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, in third.
Ogier claimed his fourth success of the year by posting the fastest time in seven of the two-day rally's 16 special stages.
He was helped by problems suffered by Latvala, who lost two minutes due to a puncture on Friday, while Mikko Hirvonen in a Citroen had to pull out after ending up in a ditch on Saturday's second special.
Ogier now leads the drivers' standings by 64 points from Latvala.
"We controlled the rally perfectly from start to finish," said the winner.
"We pushed when we needed to and we were more cautious when it was tougher and more dangerous for the tyres."
Neuville, who is placed third in the overall standings, 84 points adrift of Ogier, was thrilled with his performance, especially after a number of surprises on the road.
"We came across a cow, we had to slow down and pass it," he recounted.
The championship moves on next to Finland on August 1-3.
Final standings in the Rally of Sardinia, the seventh round of the world championship, after the second of two days on Saturday:
1.
Sebastien Ogier (FRA/VW Polo-R) 3hr 22min 57.9sec, 2. Thierry Neuville
(BEL/Ford Fiesta RS) 1:16.8, 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN/VW Polo-R)
1:48.0, 4. Dani Sordo (ESP/Citroen DS3) 3:19.2, 5. Martin Prokop
(CZE/Ford Fiesta RS) 8:34.1, 6. Elfyn Evans (GBR/ITA Ford Fiesta RS)
11:51.8, 7. Michal Kosciuszko/Maciej Szczepaniak (POL/Ford Fiesta RS)
11:52.7, 8. Mads Ostberg (DEN/Ford Fiesta RS) 13:21.5, 9. Robert Kubica
(Citroen DS3) 16:47.6, 10. Khalid Al Qassimi (UAE/Citroen DS3) 17:19.9
Special stage winners:
Ogier 7 (SS1, SS3, SS6, SS10, SS11, SS14, SS15), Latvala 6 (SS2, SS7, SS8, SS12, SS13, SS16), Neuville 2 (SS4, SS5), Hirvonen (SS9)
World championship standings
Drivers:
1. Sebastien Ogier (FRA) 154pts, 2. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 90, 3. Thierry Neuville (BEL) 70, 4. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) 68, 5. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 61, 6. Dani Sordo (ESP) 59, 7. Mads Ostberg (NOR) 50, 8. Martin Prokop (CZE) 37, 9. Evgeny Novikov (RUS) 31, 10. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) 30
Constructors:
1. Volkswagen Motorsport 220pts, 2. Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT 174, 3. Qatar M-Sport WRT (Ford) 89, 4. Qatar WRT (Ford) 89, 5. Abu Dhabi Citron WRT 33
