Didier Auriol has won Rallye Catalunya by 23.2secs from his Peugeot teammate, and fellow Frenchman, Gilles Panizzi. World Championship leader Tommi Makinen has finished third in his Mitsubishi.

Auriol, who took the lead after Citroen's Phillipe Bugalski received a two-minute penalty for starting SS15 three minutes late, produced a measured drive to finish the final stage of the rally, Collsesplanes, 11.5secs slower than stage winner Bugalski, all watched by almost 20,000 spectators.

The Frenchman has therefore secured his first victory since China '99 and Peugeot's second of the year, following Harri Rovanpera's triumph in Sweden.

However, the outcome of Citroen's protest has yet to be announced, and should Bugalski's two minute penalty be annulled it would mean that he would win the event by 34.3secs - instead of finishing fourth.

Citroens works debut continues to cause controversy with the news that Marc Marti, Jesus Puras' co-driver, has been asked to present his pacenotes to the FIA as part of their investigation into alleged illegal reconnaissance by the second Xsara T4.

Meanwhile, there had been concerns that the final stage of the rally would have to be cancelled altogether, following the decision to give all drivers outside the top ten the same time on the previous stage, SS17, due to crowd congestion.

Stage times to follow…