France's Sebastien Loeb won Rally Mexico for the third year in a row on Sunday to cut Mikko Hirvonen's championship lead to a single point.
The 34-year-old Citroen driver, chasing his fifth successive world title this season, beat Australian Chris Atkinson by one minute 6.1 seconds.
Second place was a career-best finish for Subaru's Atkinson, who finished 33.6 seconds ahead of Ford's third-placed Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hirvonen was fourth. The Finn now has 21 points to Loeb's 20 with Latvala on 16 after three rounds of the championship. Champions Ford have 37 points to Citroen and Subaru's 25.
Sunday's 18th Guanajuatito stage, at 22.3 km the longest of the final leg on the high-altitude gravel roads around Leon, was cancelled for safety reasons due to the large number of roadside spectators.
With only one full stage remaining after that before the closing sprint, Loeb knew his lead was safe and was able to take it easy.
‘There's always a bit more pressure when you are some points behind,’ said the Frenchman, who had crashed out in Sweden. ‘But okay, I always expected to do a good job here in Mexico.
‘This rally has not been so easy, I had a big battle with Jari-Matti but we got the result we came for finally,’ he told the official wrc.com Web site.
‘Latvala and the Ford have been very strong though. I remember last year we were a bit faster here than the Ford but now we are very similar. I hope we will not be behind on the future gravel rallies.’
Latvala, the 22-year-old whose victory in the previous round in Sweden made him the youngest winner of a world championship event, had led for the first day before Loeb took over on Saturday.
The Finn then fell further back when his car suffered turbo boost problems, with Atkinson moving up to second.
‘It's awesome for all the guys in the team who are working hard on the new car,’ said the Australian. ‘The car was faultless.’
Norway's Henning Solberg finished fifth for Munchi's Ford after picking up a right front puncture four km from the end of stage 19 and losing the time needed by Hirvonen to snatch fourth place.
‘Henning was certainly unlucky,’ said Hirvonen. ‘But it looks like at least one time in this rally I've had some good luck.’
Britain's Matthew Wilson was sixth for Stobart Ford with Argentina's Federico Villagra seventh for Munchi's Ford and Mexico's Ricardo Trivino taking the final point in a privately entered Peugeot.
The next rally is in Argentina on March 28-30.
Rally of Mexico standings after Sunday's final day of the race, the third round of the 2008 world championship:
1 Sebastien Loeb (FRA) Citroen C4 3hr 33min 29.9sec,
2 Chris Atkinson (AUS) Subaru Impreza at 1:06.1,
3 Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Ford Focus RS 1:39.7,
4 Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Ford Focus RS 3:38.7,
5 Henning Solberg (NOR) Ford Focus RS 4:57.9.
