Hirvonen wins in Sweden!
Ford Focus RS WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen got his quest for the 2010 World Rally Championship drivers' title off to the best possible start today by winning the opening round of the series, Rally Sweden.
Hirvonen, team-leader of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team, took the lead on Friday and successfully fought off a two-day attack from defending champion Sebastien Loeb, who finished second, 42.3sec behind in a Citroen C4 WRC.
Today's win was the 12th at World Championship level for the Finn, who lost the 2009 title fight by a single point to Loeb. Under the new WRC points system, Hirvonen opened his 2010 account with a maximum score of 25.
After a careful approach through the final snow-covered stage, Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen leapt onto the roof of their car at he finish control to celebrate their win. "It's absolutely fantastic!" said Hirvonen. "And I'm really happy it's over after those last few stages; you can't imagine how nervous I was in there. It’s a perfect start to my year, I've never won the first round before, but after last season I've got one more year of experience. Now I plan to carry on like this. It’s a new game in Mexico and I can't wait to get started again."
Having lost out to Hirvonen in a tyre gamble on Saturday afternoon, Loeb began Sunday's competition trailing by 16.1sec. But after failing to make a big impression on today's opening two stages, the Frenchman took the uncharacteristic decision to give up on the victory challenge after SS18, settling for second, and 18 championship points instead.
"It’s been a tough weekend, and Mikko has done a perfect rally," said Loeb. "We made a little mistake yesterday, but even without it I don't know if I would have been able to beat him in the stages. He was strong and he deserves his victory. I did my best. There's nothing more to say."
Third in Sweden, 33.1sec behind Loeb, was Hirvonen's team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala, who started his season with a 15 points haul - helping to put Ford in the lead of the manufacturers' contest. "It's not been an easy weekend," said the Finn. "We were struggling on Friday, but the speed started to come right on Saturday afternoon. I'm really pleased to finish in this position on the first round of the season."
Fourth went to Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo. The Spaniard finished 1min 26.2sec behind Latvala, largely because of a silly mistake on Saturday when a blanking plate wasn't removed from the front of his car, causing its engine to overheat. But after an otherwise strong performance, Sordo put a brave face on the result.
"Fourth place is not bad, but of course third would have been better," he said. "The first day was okay, then we made a mistake, but that's rally sometimes. It’s okay though, we need to look to the future now. And fourth place will give me a good start position in Mexico, where the others will be cleaning the road."
Sebastien Ogier of the Citroen Junior team had a largely trouble-free event to finish fifth on his Rally Sweden debut, 4min 15.3sec adrift of Hirvonen's winning time. "It's a good result for all the team and I want to thank them for giving me a second season - it's a great opportunity. The rally was good for me on day one then got a bit more difficult when we had to conserve our place. So it was less fun that I expected! But the most important thing was to finish and get experience."
Sixth was Stobart Ford team driver Henning Solberg, tackling his first event with new co-driver Ilka Minor, and adjusting to a new English language pace-note system. "I wanted to catch Ogier, and I couldn't do any more, so we have to be happy," he said. "In the car it’s working well with Ilka. You'll see later; this is a winning team!"
Henning's British team-mate Matthew Wilson was seventh in his Ford Focus RS WRC, to collect six championship points. "I'm slightly disappointed by Friday's pace, but once we got the car sorted we improved on Saturday and today. I'm glad to get to the finish."
Norwegian Mads Ostberg was eighth after an up and down event in his 2007 spec Subaru Impreza WRC. The Norwegian had some encouraging stages but lost time in snowbanks and with a braking problem today. "A frustrating time," he acknowledged. "I hoped my bad luck would stop this year but it seems not. I've done some mistakes, and we've had some problems with the car. I guess it evens things out. I hope we'll get out again this season; we're working on some S2000 things."
Petter Solberg's first event in his 2009 specification Citroen C4 WRC turned out to be a disappointing one, with the former champion ending the rally ninth after failing to gel with his car. "This rally didn't go our way - whether that's down to me, or something else I don't know," he said. "Something hasn't been right, that's for sure. Things worked well before the rally, and the set-up should be the same as Sebastien Loeb's. What can I say?"
Swedish driver P-G Andersson brought his Super 2000 specification Skoda Fabia to tenth place, to take the class win and collect the final point in the WRC drivers' championship.
Further down the standings, largely as a result of an electrical problem on day two, former double World Champion Marcus Gronholm finished 21st in his Stobart team Ford Focus. The Finn achieved one of his pre-event objectives - winning his beloved Sagen stage on Saturday - but felt he could have done with more time in the car before the rally. "It was good to take the stage win, but the conditions here have been very tough on the tyres, and it's very difficult to drive these cars with no studs. Will I do more events? I don't know. We'll see. But if I do I'll need a lot of practice and more miles in the car."
Despite an off into a snowbank on Friday, F1 star Kimi Raikkonen completed his first ever World Rally Championship event, reaching the finish in 30th place, 37minutes behind the leaders, in his Citroen C4 WRC. "Of course I'm not happy about getting stuck on the first day but I maybe I've improved a lot since," he said. "This is definitely not an easy rally, but we've got a lot more experience of the car and the notes now. Mexico is next. I've never driven the car on gravel before but the grip should be consistent. I'm looking forward to it."