Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen claimed victory in the opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Sweden. The Finns’ 42.3 second victory underlines their determination to overhaul Sébastien Loeb after narrowly missing out on the world title by just one point last year. Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena finished second, giving up on the fight this morning in favour of solid points. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila took the final podium position.
The final day of competition covered five stages and 101.05 competitive kilometres. Hirvonen started with a 16.6 second advantage over Loeb and while the Frenchman was fastest in the first stage, he only managed to close the gap by two-tenths of a second. After the following stage, which Hirvonen won, Loeb admitted defeat and simply drove to the finish to secure points for second position. Similarly, Latvala was too far adrift to challenge and with a comfortable cushion to fourth placed Dani Sordo, he also had little to gain by pushing to the limit. Overall, the top of the leaderboard remained unchanged, with the top 10 crews claiming points in the opening round of the series.
After a disappointing one-off return to the Championship, Marcus Grönholm finished 21st, and Kimi Räikkönen arrived back in Karlstad in 29th position. The Finn, who is contesting only his second WRC event and first in a World Rally Car, gained confidence throughout and even set a top six stage time.
The second round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews to the Americas for Rally Mexico (4-7 March).
Rally Sweden – Results after Day 3
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 09 min 30.4sec
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 10 min 12.7sec
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 10 min 45.8sec
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 12 min 12.0sec
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 13 min 45.7sec
6. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 15 min 23.8sec
7. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 17 min 24.3sec
8. Mads Östberg/Jonas Andersson Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 18 min 52.6sec
9. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 19 min 47.9sec
10. P-G Andersson/Anders Fredriksson Škoda Super 2000 3 hr 21 min 49.3sec
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 1 of 13 rounds)
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 25 points
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 18 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 15 points
Dani Sordo (ESP) 12 points
Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 10 points
Henning Solberg (NOR) 8 points
Matthew Wilson (GBR) 6 points
Mads Östberg (NOR) 4 points
Petter Solberg (NOR) 2 points
Per-Gunnar Andersson (SWE) 1 point
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 1 of 13 rounds)
BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 40 points
Citroën Total World Rally Team 30 points
Citroën Junior Team 14 points
Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 14 points
