Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala won the Rally of Italy after his Ford bosses decided against ordering him to let his team mate Mikko Hirvonen take maximum points.
A win for Hirvonen in Sardinia would have made a bigger dent on the championship leader Sebastien Loeb's advantage but Latvala was allowed to seal the second victory of his career, by half a minute from Hirvonen with the runaway championship leader Loeb third.