Petter Solberg emerged from the rugged Rally of Cyprus with the second win of his career and promptly set his sights on winning the drivers' championship.
The Norwegian kept his Subaru going as 34 of the other 51 competitors fell victim to mechanical dramas of all kinds, to eventually win by more than four minutes from Peugeot's Finnish driver, Harri Rovanpera.
Solberg showed tremendous nerve to push hard and win the final stage even though he could have backed off, and admitted he now wanted championship glory. "I love these tight, twisty types of rally stages. We were quickest from the start," Solberg told www.wrc.com.
"We need more work on our car for quicker roads and I need a few more wins under my belt to challenge for this year's title, but I'll certainly be trying."
Solberg was given a comfortable end to the rally when Rovanpera's challenge faltered on stage 16 because of a drive shaft failure, leaving the Finn struggling to hold onto even second place.
"The second round of stages today were the most difficult stages of my career," admitted Rovanpera.
"I had almost three stages with mechanical problems after my drive shaft broke. The car was always trying to get away from me in left-hand corners, and I had a spin on the final stage, but I held on just from Sebastien Loeb and second place was a great result."
The mechanical problem for Rovanpera was a relief for Solberg, who had looked nervous when holding an advantage of 48 seconds after the first three stages of the day.
The win comes after his maiden victory in the British Rally last year, and lifts him into fourth in the drivers' championship.
Englishman Richard Burns, still without a rally win, remains on top of the overall standings despite being forced out of the on the second day with an overheated engine.
Carlos Sainz is just a point behind in second place after finishing fifth - the tail-end Charlie in a group of three Citroens strung from third to fifth. "We had a difficult event, especially the first day of the rally, after which we were always starting near the front on the road," said Sainz.
"Citroen getting all three of its cars home is a remarkable achievement and one that bodes well for the future as this was the toughest rally of the year."
Loeb was unlucky not to catch Rovanpera but finished just 2.8 seconds behind, lifting him to eighth in the championship race.
Colin McRae guided the third of the Citroens into fourth place and is eager to chase his first win of the season now that the car's durability has been established beyond doubt.
"Fourth place is good for the championship, but not what we wanted," said McRae.
"We wanted to be closer to the pace and challenging for wins, which is what we need to do for the rest of the year."