OLBIA: Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala, driving a Ford Focus, won the Rally of Italy-Sardinia on Sunday after leading the sixth leg of the World Rally Championship from start to finish.

Latvala finished 29 sec ahead of compatriot and team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, with Norwegian Petter Solberg third in his Citroen Xsara, 1:57.6 off the pace.

French world champion and last year's winner Sebastien Loeb was initially given third, but the Citroen C4 driver picked up a post-race two-minute penalty that saw him demoted to fourth, 3:43.7 adrift.

The victory was the first for Ford since the double in the Rally of Japan at the end of 2008 and the second in the 24-year-old Latvala's career after his win in Sweden early last year - when he became the youngest ever winner of a WRC event.

Ford Rally boss Malcolm Wilson bucked expectations that Latvala might cede his place to Hirvonen, third in the overall standings behind Loeb and Dani Sordo, instructing the former to take the win for himself.

Latvala thoroughly deserved the win, having led the rally from beginning to end despite facing the worst of the slippery gravel conditions as first driver on the road through Saturday and Sunday's competition.

"It's such a relief!" said Latvala. "I want to say thanks to the team and to Malcolm for letting me do this.

"It's a great thing for me to win this rally and also for the team with a one-two. It's been unbelievable, but I've been lucky too. I've made mistakes earlier this year, so this win has come at a very important time."

Hirvonen had no complaints about his junior team-mate taking the glory.

"It looks like second place is my destiny," Hirvonen joked. "We had a good rally, with a really good fight but this is how it is. Jari-Matti definitely deserves this result so that's fine."

Loeb, who had won the first five rallies of the season, was slapped with his two-minute penalty after co-pilot Daniel Elena was spotted by the car's on-board camera not wearing a seatbelt, which is against WRC regulations.

The incident came during Saturday's 11th stage, when Loeb and Elena changed a burst tyre in just a minute, the co-pilot having detached his seatbelt before leaping out with a jack in hand.