The weekend's eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in Turkey has seen Ford's Mikko Hirvonen re-take the drivers' championship lead after a tactic-filled weekend in the Anatolian mountains.

Following three days of cat-and-mouse tactics, Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen finished ahead of team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila when a three-way battle ended with defending champion Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena having to settle for third.

“It was an incredibly hard weekend for drivers, cars and tyres and a great battle with Jari-Matti, which I'm so happy to win,” said Hirvonen, scoring his second outright win of the season for the BP Ford World Rally Team. “It was the right moment for a win because we struggled on the last round in Greece and this is perfect timing. It feels very special to beat a four-time world champion in a straight fight. I promised Malcolm Wilson I would lead the championship going into my home rally in Finland next month and I am.”

Taking an early lead during the first day of competition, Hirvonen and his team-mate Latvala deliberately slowed in the last stage of the day to avoid running as first car on the road for the second day. This left Citroen’s Loeb in the unenviable position of again being road-sweeper. The Ford duo then built a 30 second buffer over Loeb, who led the series coming into Turkey, for the final day of 67 kilometres.

Loeb’s ploy of only carrying one spare to minimise weight in the car meant he couldn’t risk puncturing on the rocky roads and he was unable to catch the Fords.

“We all knew it will be difficult for the tyres,” said Loeb of the final day. “My position, I was 25 seconds behind Mikko and 13 behind Jari-Matti, I had to try. It worked well in the start of the stage, but in the middle I feel it’s too much for the tyres and we destroyed them.”

Loeb singled out Repco Rally New Zealand as the only remaining event on the calendar where similar road position tactics could be employed. “Except maybe for New Zealand, we should no longer have to worry about the problem of 'road-sweeping' for any of the seven rallies that remain, and that can only be a good thing. We know that we're ready for what’s coming, the points’ differences in the two championships are minimal and there will doubtless be more fights to close these gaps,” said the current champion and winner of 41 WRC events.

With Hirvonen now three points ahead of Loeb, Latvala’s result elevated him to third and ousting Subaru’s Chris Atkinson who suffered electrical problems in the new Impreza WRC2008. Atkinson’s team-mate Petter Solberg finished sixth overall in Turkey to allow Subaru to hold third in the manufacturer’s stakes.

Rally of Turkey was also a round of the Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC) and a perfect result by Austria’s Andreas Aigner puts him 16 points clear of the field. With eight rounds on the P-WRC calendar, teams can compete in only six per season. Aigner has two rounds left remaining while the majority of the field have three – which includes Repco Rally New Zealand in late August (28-31 August 2008).

WRC teams now have a six week break during the northern hemisphere summer before heading to the spectacular Neste Oil Rally Finland for the first weekend of August.

Final results – Rally of Turkey (13-15 June 2008).

1. Hirvonen/Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4h 42m 07.1s

2. Latvala/Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +7.9s

3. Loeb/Elena Citroen C4 WRC +25.7s

4. Sordo/Marti Citroen C4 WRC +2m 25.6s

5. Solberg/Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +2m 33.7s

6. Solberg/Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2008 +2m 48.2s

7. Wilson/Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +4m 24.2s

8. Rautenbach/Senior Citroen C4 WRC +7m 46.7s

9. Villagra/Perez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +9m 34.1s

10. Clark/Nagle Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +14m 48.8s

Drivers’ Championship points – after round eight of 15

1. Hirvonen/Lehtinen 59        

2. Loeb/Elena 56        

3. Latvala/Anttila 34        

4. Atkinson/Prévot 31        

5. Sordo/Marti 30        

6. P. Solberg/Mills 20        

7. Galli/Bernacchini 17                    

8. H. Solberg/Menkerud 16                                

Manufacturers’ Championship points – after round eight of 15

1  BP Ford WRT 99

2  Citroen Total WRT 90

3  Subaru World Rally Team 53

4  Stobart VK M-Sport WRT 41

5  Munchi’s Ford WRT 19

6  Suzuki WRT 10