Finland's Mikko Hirvonen held off the challenge of six-times champion Sebastien Loeb to seal victory in the WRC season-opening rally of Sweden.
The Ford driver, who lost the title to Frenchman Loeb by a point last season, led after the opening stages and wrapped up the win on the snow and ice by a margin of 42 seconds.
The victory was Hirvonen's 12th in the world rally championship and he was rewarded with 25 points under the scoring system brought in last week to mirror Formula One.
Citroen's Loeb was 16 seconds behind heading into the final day and never looked like snatching victory.
Hirvonen's team mate and compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala was third.
Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen, making his world rally debut for the Citroen junior team, finished well back after becoming trapped in snow and losing almost half an hour on the first day.
The next rally takes place in Mexico from March 5th.