Grandstand Finnish by Gronholm

The 39-year-old Finn's success in Jyvaskyla set a record for a single WRC event as he won 17 stages out of 23 to finish 24.2 seconds ahead of BP-Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen for his fourth successive Rally Finland win and a seventh in eight years.

Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Total) was third, one minute 9.9 seconds behind Gronholm, to stay second in the overall standings on 62 points, but could not threaten Ford's dominance on the gravel.

Subaru's Chris Atkinson and Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Britain's Guy Wilks (Ramsport Ford) finished ninth, 9:39.4 behind Gronholm, while Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford) was 10th, 1:34 further back.

The 27-year-old Hirvonen pushed his compatriot throughout, including on day three when Gronholm won all three stages, for the perfect result for their team as the new 2007 spec Focus made its competitive debut and BP-Ford extended their lead over Citroen Total at the top of the constructors' standings to 40 points.

Hirvonen stays third in the overall standings on 57 points ahead of round 10 in Germany later this month.

Gronholm was delighted with his record-breaking win, but his focus remained on lifting the championship title after his fourth victory of the season and 29th of his career.

"When I was a young driver in the 1990s I could never have thought that I would ever win here, but seven times looks very good," said Gronholm.

"I'm very happy, and it's nice to get the 10 points here before we head to Germany.

"We have a very difficult rally in Germany coming up now but I would like to take the title now. That is my aim."

Hirvonen was delighted to push his team-mate consistently over the race. He said: "It's been a fantastic rally for me. I'm really happy to be so close to Marcus."

Loeb struggled to keep pace with the Fords, but the Frenchman is looking forward to racing on the German tarmac.

"In Finland we have to accept that the Finns are fast," he said. "We couldn't do anything, we had to accept that they were faster.

"But I have to do better in Germany. I have to win a lot of rallies now if I want to win the championship."

Gronholm won eight of Friday's 10 stages, adding six victories on Saturday, before continuing his dominant performance yesterday.

The Finn finished 0.1 seconds ahead of Hirvonen in SS21 with Loeb 2.3 seconds behind.

Wilson tied for fourth with Australian Chris Atkinson (Subaru) seven seconds behind Gronholm to move up into the top 10 following the retirement of Jan Kopecky (Skoda).

Gronholm continued his remarkable form with victory in the 22.83-kilometre penultimate stage ahead of Hirvonen and Loeb, while Wilson managed to maintain his top 10 place, holding off the challenge of Andreas Mikkelsen (Ramsport Ford) by 0.4 seconds.

A third triumph of the day followed for Gronholm in the race's final stage, where he edged in front of Hirvonen and Loeb.