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Hirvonen takes victory in Sweden

The weekend’s first round of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in Sweden saw Ford score the first win of the season with BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen taking a 42.3 second victory in the snowy Scandinavian forests.

Pushing hard from the outset, the Finnish duo took the Ford Focus RS WRC to a small lead in the opening stages of the three day competition, gradually extending that lead beyond easy reach of archrivals Sebastién Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena in the Citroen C4 WRC.

So after the 21 special stages totalling 345 competitive kilometres, Hirvonen and Ford go to the top of the drivers’ and WRC teams’ points-tables. There is a new point-scoring system this year, with drivers earning 25 points for a win, 18 for second, 15 for third, 12 for fourth and 10 for fifth. Finishers down to tenth place earn points.

Having chased hard Loeb conceded victory late in the event, concentrating on securing 18 points for second place for the Citroen Total World Rally Team. The BP Ford team scored 25 points for Hirvonen’s win, plus 15 for Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in the second Ford Focus RS WRC who finished third overall, one minute 15 seconds behind Hirvonen.

With temperatures plummeting to -22 degrees Celsius during the night, the days were equally as frigid for the 44 teams who made it to the finish. A variety of road surface – from hard ice to snow-lined banks and gravel – meant not all the teams made it through the event incident-free.

Former WRC champion Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills had a disastrous opening super special stage on the Thursday, when they spun the Citroen C4 WRC and lost 18.3 seconds on the 1.9 kilometre stage. Solberg also went off during Friday’s opening group of stages and lost another five seconds.

Also with afflictions on the first day; double WRC champ Marcus Grönholm suffered an electrical failure and dropped over 12 minutes, while former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen and co-driver Timo Rautiainen lost 26 minutes when they got stuck off the road in the Ford Focus RS WRC.

Grönholm finished 21st, and Kimi Räikkönen arrived back in Karlstad in 29th position. The Finn, who is contesting only his second WRC event and the first in a World Rally Car, gained confidence throughout and even set a top six stage time.

Rally Sweden was also the opening round of the Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC) and Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC).

Swedish guest driver Patrik Flodin and co-driver Göran Bergsten led their home event in the P-WRC class from start to finish driving a Subaru Impreza. Norwegian driver Anders Gröndal, also in a Subaru, finished in second with a comfortable 3 minutes 51 seconds gap ahead of third placed defending P-WRC Champion Armindo Araújo (Portugal) in his Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer X.

Exercising the benefit of local knowledge, local hero P-G Andersson made history with the first ever S-WRC class win in his S2000 Skoda Fabia. Assisted by co-driver Anders Fredriksson, Andersson streaked into the lead from SS1, winning the class by a comfortable 47.3 seconds. Second on the podium was Finnish driver Janne Tuohino in his Ford Fiesta S2000, followed by Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) in a similar car in third. This is the first time Ford S2000 cars have been used in WRC events.

Adding to his successful weekend, P-G Andersson was given the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award in recognition of his outstanding performance on his home soil at Rally Sweden – the only snow rally in this year’s WRC. Andersson excelled under the pressure of a home crowd. Spurred on by his loyal supporters he not only out-performed his peers, winning an unprecedented nine consecutive stages, but also recorded faster times than some WRC crews, finishing in respectable tenth position. The Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award, created by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), is presented at each WRC round to mark an outstanding feat of leadership, integrity, respect or teamwork.

The second round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews to the Americas for Rally Mexico (4-7 March), which is again a round of the P-WRC and S-WRC.

Rally Sweden - Final Results
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