Further down the order Shaun Gallagher came in fourth and he had been in front of Burkart until he picked up a puncture on the final day in SS14, which cost him over three minutes. In the end he finished just under 30 seconds behind the German.
Current championship leader Sebastien Ogier had to settle for fifth place and after dominating the first two rounds, his luck turned in Sardinia.
Ogier struggled for traction on the opening day and when he eased off to pass the stranded vehicle of a fellow competitor on SS4 he picked up a puncture. Although he could continue he later hit a bank which damaged his steering and transmission, preventing him completing the rest of the day's stages and resulting in a 15-minute penalty.
Re-starting under the SupeRally on day two the
Citroen star pushed as hard as he dared in the rough conditions and gradually worked his way back up the leaderboard to score four points.
"It's a good recovery, that's sure," said the Frenchman, who is backed by the Equipe de France FFSA. "But it's not the same when you are just fighting to score a few points rather than the win. At the start of the rally that was my aim, but we soon had to re-adjust our expectations, which was a valuable lesson too."
Of the rest Stefano Albertini was sixth on only his second WRC event, despite electrical and brake problems, while Patrik Sandell came in seventh.
Sandell had finished day one in third, but had to retire on day two in SS8 with a broken driveshaft. Although he re-started on Sunday, with 25 minutes of penalties, scoring a podium result was no longer an option and so the 2006 JWRC champion had to settle for two consolation points.
Han Weijs Jr rounded out the top eight and picked up the final point in his Citroen C2-R2 MAX, with Jaan Molder ninth followed by Prokop, Andrea Cortinovis, Gilles Schammel and Francesco Fanari.
