Mikko Hirvonen got his 2010 World Rally Championship effort under way in the best way, beating Sebastien Loeb to victory in the Rally Sweden.
"Fantastic, absolutely fantastic," a thrilled Hirvonen confirmed. "I'm really happy it's over after all these stages - it was so bad for the tyres, you can't imagine how nervous I was on this last stage."
"It's been a very tough weekend and Mikko has done a perfect rally," Loeb explained. He was really strong, he deserves this victory."
Their top two's respective Ford and Citroen teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Dani Sordo were third and fourth from Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier, Stobart Ford drivers Henning Solberg and Mattew Wilson, and Mads Ostberg in a Subaru.
Petter Solberg recovered to ninth in his Subaru following a variety of maladies, Marcus Gronholm showed speed in his drive back from electrical problems and Kimi Raikkonen reached the finish in 30th position after losing half an hour stuck in the snow on Friday.
Although Loeb edged into a narrow lead over the opening stages, a change of Hirvonen made a cruicial differential setting change on his Ford midday Friday to turn the rally around.Loeb had led until then but Hirvonen moved quickly ahead and opened the lead.
Sordo impressed despite a lack of snow experience, but lost third to Latvala when he stopped to remove snow shields left on the engine in error.
"Apart from that small problem and a spin, everything was really good," Sordo reported "I'm really happy with the performance on the first day - fourth position on this rally is a good start and we will see in Mexico."
Raikkonen spent a difficult weekend acclimatisng to his new office. "Of course we are not happy, we hit the snow bank and we got stuck on the first day," the Finn explained. "But we improved a lot and we got here. "It was definitely not an easy rally to start with but I got more experience with the car and the notes."
Rally Sweden - Results
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford Focus 3:09:30.4
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen C4 + 42.3
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford Focus + 1:15.4
4. Dani Sordo Citroen C4 + 2:41.6
5. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C4 + 4:15.5
6. Henning Solberg Ford Focus + 5:23.4
7. Matthew Wilson Ford Focus + 7:53.9
8. Mads Ostberg Subaru Impreza + 9:22.2
9. Petter Solberg Citroen +10:17.5
10. P-G Andersson Skoda Fabia +12:08.9
STAGE 18
Hirvonen Closes on Victory
Mikko Hirvonen appeared to be heading to victory for Ford in Rally Sweden after Sebastien Loeb decided to settle for second, 24 seconds adrift.
Loeb managed to cut trim 0.2s from Hirvonen's lead on the morning's opening stage but the Citroen driver lost 7 seconds in the following stage "I tried, I was on the limit," said Loeb. "He's doing no mistakes and he's going as fast as me. "I'll try to finish second now - I've done a few mistakes, had a few moments in the stage. "He's too strong here."
Hirvonen admitted giving his all; "We were ahead at halfway but then on the last downhill section especially it was really bad driving from me - it's very close - it's really, really flat-out all the way."
The leaders respective teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Dani Sordo were running a minute apart in third and fourth respectively, ahead of Mads Osteberg's Junior Citroen and Henning Solberg for Stobart Ford. Matthew Wilson was seventh for Stobart Ford ahead of Mads Ostberg who suffered a brake problem Sunday morning.
Petter Solberg seems to have settled for a points paying 8th, while Marcus Gronholm is flying and Kimi Raikkonen is running well albeit well down after their troubles earlier...
Rally Sweden - Postitions After Stage 18
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford Focus 2:29:13.0
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen C4 + 23.7
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford Focus + 1:12.4
4. Dani Sordo Citroen C4 + 2:13.2
5. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C4 + 3:18.5
6. Henning Solberg Ford Focus + 4:27.2
7. Matthew Wilson Ford Focus + 6:40.0
8. Mads Ostberg Subaru Impreza + 8:25.2
9. Petter Solberg Citroen + 9:25.0
10. P-G Andersson Skoda Fabia +10:18.8
Go to Page:
1
2
3
4
| 
