The wrc rally New Zealand

It’s a strange thing, but Rally New Zealand always has an unnerving habit of throwing up the unexpected.

In 2007, the antipodean event was the scene of the closest-ever finish on the World Rally Championship, when Marcus Gronholm edged out Sebastien Loeb by just three-tenths of a second.

One year later Ford had a one-two seemingly in the bag, only to throw it all away on the final loop of stages. This time, the wheel turned full circle and it was Citroen that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory: on more than one occasion.

Olivier Quesnel may be cursing this reversal of fortune but for his drivers the glass is always half full. Sebastien Loeb is grateful to be on the podium, happy that his healthy championship lead is still intact (albeit slightly reduced), and relieved not to have retired. “I had quite a few moments during the rally: more than normal,” he reflected afterwards. “Any of them could have led to me retiring.”

Sebastien Ogier too came within three corners of his debut victory on his first trip to New Zealand, before a spin on the final stage dropped him to second. “But I’ve got to take away the positives more than anything,” he insisted. ‘We’ve shown again that we’re capable of fighting at the front – and it’s the first time that I’ve been here.”

So it was an almost bemused Jari-Matti Latvala who took his first win of 2010, coming from almost out of nowhere to claim the spoils. It was an interesting role reversal: generally speaking Latvala is normally the blindingly fast protagonist of the action who either wins or crashes, rather than the diligent understudy who waits patiently for events to come to him.

But on this occasion, that’s exactly how it was. Latvala was less exuberant than the others, not even winning a stage, but steered clear of mistakes and was there to pick up the pieces. It underlines the Finn’s more measured and studious approach this year, commensurate with his self-declared status as number two driver to Mikko Hirvonen.

The tactic has worked: by reining himself in Latvala has not only curtailed his car-damaging excesses but also got off to the best season start he has ever had. While it was far from being his aim, Latvala ended up beating Hirvonen comfortably in New Zealand. Proof, if it were needed, that less is often more.

Without a doubt Latvala was a deserving winner – and this was not just any old win, as it was a landmark victory that made Ford the most successful manufacturer in World Rally Championship history, displacing Lancia in the record books.

For Latvala, it’s a fantastic item to have on his CV, and also a brilliant way of thanking Ford for sticking by him at times when some people thought they shouldn’t: notably after Poland last year, when he threw away a certain second place with a silly accident on the final Superspecial stage.

But the truth is that any of the top-three would have deserved to win the rally. Sebastien Loeb, for example, put in what can only be described as the best drive of his career on Saturday, winning all the stages to haul back what was widely viewed as an impossible gap.

After such a Herculean effort, which his rivals used words like ‘extra-terrestrial’, ‘unbelievable’ and ‘awesome’ to describe, it would almost have been poetic justice for Loeb to have won.

But the fact that he didn’t is almost irrelevant, because those six gravel stages will always stand out as possibly the greatest day that any driver has enjoyed in the history of the sport.

Loeb was determined to make up time after clattering a bridge on the opening day and his dominant performance sends out a chilling message to his rivals. The Frenchman often talks about pushing at maybe 90% throughout a lot of the season, and he says that his secret is never trying to drive too far beyond his comfort zone. But clearly, on those occasions, while breathtakingly fast, he’s not really trying. Because when he does get the bit between his teeth, he’s capable of taking 22 seconds per stage out of people under the right circumstances. Chew on that for a little while.

More food for thought: like long-awaited buses, another French Seb has turned up just behind the first one. Unlike buses, he’s also blindingly quick and reliable. What Sebastien Ogier did in Turkey a few weeks ago was remarkable, but not entirely unexpected as the fact that it was a new rally meant that he did not suffer an experience deficit compared to the others.

New Zealand was a different story. Loeb, for example, first competed there in 2004 and has won twice. The heavily cambered roads require a specialised driving style that takes a while to tap into. Clearly nobody told Ogier that. On this showing the former Junior World Champion’s first win will come sooner rather than later – more likely than not this year – and Dani Sordo will need a miracle, or more prosaically, a dramatic upturn in form to retain his seat alongside Loeb next year.

Sordo drove a typical Sordo rally: he was quick and consistent – at one point leading the rally overall on day one – but did nothing spectacularly. As a driver, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him. The problem that Sordo has is the manufacturers’ title.

It’s very close between Citroen and Ford now and in the past Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel has always spoken up in favour of Sordo, saying that the young Spaniard has been vital to Citroen’s recent conquests of the manufacturers’ title. That was true at the time, but now Quesnel can see that Sordo is actually costing them points by not consistently finishing in front of Ogier.

The Frenchman would have been a better bet so far this year as up to now he has scored more points, despite his lack of experience. It’s as simple as that when the competition is so close. Unless Sordo can remedy this situation, he could be heading for the door marked ‘exit’.

WRC: Loeb takes dominant Jordan win

Sebastien Loeb has notched up his first Jordan Rally win after a dominant performance on the final day of the third round of the World Rally Championship.

The 36-year-old Frenchman was fastest on four of Saturday’s eight special stages in his Citroen C4 WRC to take his second victory of the 2010 season and extend his advantage at the top of the drivers’ classification to 25 points over Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, who finished second.

“It’s been a good rally for us and with a 31-point lead over [archrival] Mikko Hirvonen it means it has been a good start to the season,” said Loeb. “I really had to go flat-out because Jari-Matti was going very fast and made me push to the limit all of the time.”

Commenting on the tactics employed by the Citroen and Ford teams to influence the road position order during the rally, Loeb added: “Tactics are part of the game and it’s down to the teams to do what they want with it. I am just the driver.”

Latvala, who is celebrating his 25th birthday today, was the leading Ford Focus runner home in second place after an error-free performance. He had started the day 27.7 seconds adrift of Loeb in third overall but moved into second place when Sebastien Ogier incurred a 50-second time penalty for leaving first service late when the Citroen Junior Team said his C4 refused to start.

“I am quite pleased with second but also a little disappointed we didn’t have the pace to compete with Sebastien,” said Latvala. “What has happened with the tactics on this event is now history.”

Petter Solberg, the 2003 world champion, landed his second podium of the year with a strong showing in his privately-run Citroen. The Norwegian reached mid-morning service with his car missing its front bumper but he was at a loss to explain where it had become detached. He also complained of a bout of understeer on the opening stage of the day.

Dani Sordo achieved his aim of reaching the finish unscathed following his crash in Mexico last time out. He took fourth overall to claim more points for Citroen in its quest for the manufacturers’ championship.

Matthew Wilson landed his best result of the season so far with fifth place in his Stobart M-Sport Focus. The event marked his co-driver Scott Martin’s 50th start at world championship level.

Ogier started the day in second overall but ran first on the road after being instructed by his team to check in early at the start of the first stage to clear the road of loose surface gravel and help Citroen team leader Loeb. The eight-minute time penalty he picked up meant he could finish no better than sixth, which was poor reward after another strong performance.

Behind Federico Villagra in seventh, ex-Formula One star Kimi Raikkonen bagged his first WRC points of his career in eighth.

Henning Solberg and Super 2000 World Rally Championship category winner Xevi Pons took the final points in ninth and tenth places.

Despite heavy rain in the month before the rally, the weather remained hot and dry throughout with ambient temperatures approaching 40 degrees centigrade.

First WRC points for Raikkonen

Former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen says he achieved all he set out to in the Jordan Rally, and believes the experience gained will stand him in good stead on the next round in Turkey.

Raikkonen’s debut WRC season with the Citroen Junior Team got off to a shaky start in Sweden when he drove into a snow bank, and got worse on the next round in Mexico when he rolled his C4 WRC off the road. But in Jordan, only his eighth-ever rally, a largely mistake-free performance netted him a top ten result.

Eighth place was Raikkonen’ best finish in the World Rally Championship, and secured him his first drivers’ championship points.

The 339 competitive kilometres of the Jordan Rally was the longest time that the former Grand Prix champion has ever spent in a rally car on gravel, and now he is looking forward to more action in Turkey at the end of the month.

“From the beginning my goal was to get to the end of the rally and I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to do that even though the conditions were difficult,” said Raikkonen. “As the stages went on I’ve learned more and more, and my confidence has grown bigger as well. We came to Jordan with very little experience of the car on gravel and now we’ve practically doubled it. I’m getting to know the car better now, but the important thing as well is that I’ve really enjoyed these three days. We’re making progress, which is why we are here, and hopefully this will continue on the next round in Turkey.”

Kimi’s co-driver Kaj Lindstrom also enjoyed his first visit to the Jordan Rally, scoring his first points as a co-driver since finishing third with the legendary four-time World Champion Tommi Makinen on the 2003 Rally Great Britain.

“It’s been a very good event for us,” added Kaj. “Kimi’s speed has been really impressive for someone who has hardly been driving any rallies at all: he’s already doing the same sort of times as people with much more experience. The key to this event was just making sure that we got to the end with no mistakes – and this is only the start. We’re going to be seeing a lot more of Kimi in the future…”

2010 Drivers’ championship standings

Drivers’ championship points are allocated to the top ten finishers on every round on a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis.

If two or more drivers have the same number of points (including zero), their positions are fixed according to the quality of their finishes.

Drivers’ table notes:

Points scored on each rally are shown on the table below. (Excl) excluded; (R) retired. Rallies completed, but outside the points, are written as (0). More detailed results of each rally can be found in the ‘live stage times’ section (on the home page).

															Total
1.	Sebastien Loeb	18	25	25											68
2.	Jari-Matti Latvala	15	10	18											43
3.	Mikko Hirvonen	25	12	0											37
4.	Petter Solberg	2	18	15											35
5.	Sebastien Ogier	10	15	8											33
6.	Dani Sordo	12	0	12											24
7.	Henning Solberg	8	8	2											18
8.	Matthew Wilson	6	0	10											16
9.	Federico Villagra	-	6	6											12
10.	Xavi Pons	-	4	1											5
11.	Mads Ostberg	4	-	-											4
12.	Kimi Raikkonen	0	0	4											4
13.	Martin Prokop	0	2	-											2
14.	P-G Andersson	1	-	0											1
15.	Armindo Araujo	0	1	0											1
16.	Khalid Al Qassimi	0	-	-											0
17.	Ken Block	-	0	-											0

2010 Manufacturers’ championship standings

Four teams are contesting the 2010 WRC manufacturers’ championship. Teams nominate two cars per rally to score points for them. Points are allocated to the top ten nominated cars on a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis.

If two or more manufacturer teams have the same number of points (including zero), their positions in the championship are fixed according to the quality of their finishes. Under this system one first place is better than any number of second places, one second place is better than any number of third places, and so on.

															Total
1.	Citroen Total World Rally Team	30	31	40											101
2.	BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	40	27	20											87
3.	Citroen Junior Team	14	18	16											48
4.	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	14	14	16											44
5.	Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team	-	8	8											16

Sebastien Loeb wins Rally Mexico!

Citroen C4 WRC driver Sebastien Loeb sealed a crushing victory on Rally Mexico today, round two of the 2010 World Rally Championship, to leap into the lead of the FIA Drivers’ standings.

Loeb, the defending and six-times World Champion built up a massive lead of almost a minute during Saturday’s competition, and cruised through Sunday’s three stages to finish 24.2sec ahead of Petter Solberg who claimed second place in another Citroen C4 WRC.

Today’s win was the 55th at World Championship level for Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena and was the pair’s fourth consecutive success on Rally Mexico.

After finishing runner-up to his Ford rival Mikko Hirvonen on the series’ opening round in Sweden, it springs the Frenchman six points clear at the top of the drivers’ standings.

“I had a good lead today and was not going to take any risks with that when I started first on the road,” said Loeb. “I was just breezing through the last couple of stages trying to keep my concentration. It’s a good victory; I’m back in the lead of the championship and the points we lost in Sweden we’ve won back – that’s important.

“Okay, it’s only the start of the championship but I’m really happy. We had a really good drive yesterday and a good feeling in the car. It’s looking good,” he added.

Sunday’s gripping tussle for second position eventually ended in Solberg’s favour. He and Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier began the day separated by just 2.7sec and the contest was only decided to the Norwegian’s advantage on the final Super Special stage when he set the fastest time. It marked a fitting end to a terrific three-day battle.

“I’m delighted but absolutely exhausted,” said an emotional Solberg, who scored his best WRC result since the 2008 Acropolis. “After what we’ve been through last year and this year it’s a hell of result. We analysed the time we might lose running first on the road and even though we knew it would be difficult it worked out perfectly. It’s a great feeling to be back on the podium!”

Finishing third, 1.1sec behind Solberg, Ogier was left pondering his decision to deliberately drop time to his rival on Saturday to ensure a better road position today.

“Of course it’s disappointing but it’s been a good weekend anyway,” he said. “My team told me not to push too hard today, so this morning I didn’t push to the maximum. Maybe it’s there that I lost out, or maybe yesterday when I slowed at the end of the stage. I think maybe we could have been faster than Petter if we wanted this weekend, but here we are third and it’s a good result.”

One minute 22 seconds behind the winning trio of Citroens, BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Hirvonen was fourth, in the first Ford Focus RS WRC. His team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala rounded off the top five positions.

The final stage marked the end of a disappointing event for Ford, who were beaten fair and square over the Mexican gravel by Citroen, although the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team maintained a six-point lead over the Citroen Total World Rally Team in the FIA Manufacturers’ championship.

“It was a very difficult weekend for the whole team,” acknowledged Hirvonen. “We never really had the speed and there were lots of small mistakes from my side too. I’m glad in the end we got the points we could. I just want to leave it behind now and move on to the next rally.”

Jari-Matti Latvala said: “It’s been a frustrating weekend, but if you look at the positives we did get good points in the manufacturers’ championship, which is very important. Also this is my second rally now finishing in a quite good position – and that boosts my confidence ahead of the next rallies.”

Norwegian Henning Solberg confirmed sixth overall for the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team after setting several impressive stage times on day two and Argentina’s Federico Villagra finished in seventh place and gave the Munchi’s Rally Team its first points of the season.

Follow this link to see the complete list of stage times. To analyse the split times click here.

Drivers’ championship standings

After 2 rounds
1.	Sebastien Loeb	43
2.	Mikko Hirvonen	37
3.	Jari-Matti Latvala	25
4.	Sebastien Ogier	25
5.	Petter Solberg	20
6.	Henning Solberg	16
7.	Dani Sordo	12
8.	Matthew Wilson	6
9.	Federico Villagra	6
10.	Mads Ostberg	4
11.	Xavi Pons	4
12.	Martin Prokop	2
13.	P-G Andersson	1
14.	Armindo Araujo	1

Manufacturers’ championship standings

After 2 rounds
1.	BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	67
2.	Citroen Total World Rally Team	61
3.	Citroen Junior Team	32
4.	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	28
5.	Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team	8

26/2/10

Countdown to Rally Mexico

After a freezing start on the snowy roads of Sweden, the FIA World Rally Championship heads to the heat and dust of Rally Mexico for round two – the only WRC event on the American continent this year.

Based in the city of Leon, 400km north-west of Mexico City, the rally made its debut on the WRC calendar in 2004 and returns after a year’s absence in 2009. Always a popular event with the fanatical Mexican rally fans, this year’s edition comes with extra cause for celebration as the country marks the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and the 200th anniversary of its independence.

The event features a compact series of well-organised, high-speed gravel stages through the Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato mountains and plains around the cities of Guanajuato and Leon.

Stages are generally fast and flowing, on roads largely made of hard-packed gravel. March is the dry season in Mexico which means the road surface is expected to be dry, loose and sandy in places.

Rally Mexico is the highest round in the series. Most stages are over 2000m above sea level and the roads on the opening day climb to more than 2700m on hillsides dotted with cacti and river crossings. But while the altitude may be breathtaking for the spectators, the thinner air is doing the same to the engines of the rally cars, which can lose up to 30 per cent of their usual power.

The rally begins on Thursday 4 March with one of the best ceremonial starts in the business. In 2008, more than 60,000 fans flocked to the historic city of Guanajuato to watch the competitors cross the start ramp.

Once underway, competitors will face a tried and tested route which has changed very little since Mexico’s last WRC appearance. The majority of the action takes place in the countryside north and east of Leon, with the addition of two tests at two short spectator-friendly venues, one in Leon city itself, immediately next to the single service park at the Poliforum, the other at the city’s race circuit. In total, drivers will tackle 22 stages covering 354.60km.

Who’s going to win?

Mexico is the first of five consecutive gravel rallies in the 2010 WRC calendar. And with nine of the 13 rallies based on the loose, it should offer the best form-guide yet for the season ahead.

Success in Mexico, however, isn’t just about outright speed. Tactics – especially ones to overcome the disadvantage of running first though the stages – have had a huge part to play in past editions of this rally.

On past form, the winner of the event in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Sebastien Loeb, is favourite to do it again this year. The Citroen driver’s chances look even better thanks to his Ford rival Mikko Hirvonen’s lead position in the championship standings – which puts the Finn first on the road on day one.

In 2008 Hirvonen faced the same situation. That year he struggled in the loose conditions and eventually finished fourth. This year, Loeb once again has the chance to play a game of cat and mouse, keeping Hirvonen ahead of him if he wants.

In identical machinery as their team-leaders, the factory number two drivers Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala are each more than capable of challenging for victory too. Latvala especially was one of the surprises of the 2008 event, overcoming a start position of second on the road to streak into the lead on day one, before falling back with turbocharger problems on day two.

Aside from the manufacturer team drivers, Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier also have the chance to spring a Mexican surprise. Both are previous winners: Ogier of the J-WRC event in 2008, while Petter took outright victory (his most recent) with Subaru in 2005.

Tyres

The championship’s control tyre regulations dictate the use of just one pattern for the majority of WRC events. For Rally Mexico, Pirelli’s gravel tyre, the Scorpion WRC 205/65R15, is available in hard-compound only.

Thirty-six Pirelli Scorpion tyres will be allocated to each crew, including six for the shakedown. Each car can carry two spares.

Website links
You’ll find more information on Rally Mexico, including this year’s itinerary and a video review of the 2008 event, in the Corona Rally Mexico section.

Follow these links for more information about the Rally Mexico entry list and our S-WRC and P-WRC previews.

We’ll bring you preview information from each of the leading teams over the coming days on wrc.com.

Rally 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.  Ireland’s Eamonn Boland finished 40th in a Mitsubishi.  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, 37 minutes behind the leaders, in his Citroen C4 WRC.

Drivers’ championship standings

After 1 round
1.	Mikko Hirvonen	25
2.	Sebastien Loeb	18
3.	Jari-Matti Latvala	15
4.	Dani Sordo	12
5.	Sebastien Ogier	10
6.	Henning Solberg	8
7.	Matthew Wilson	6
8.	Mads Ostberg	4
9.	Petter Solberg	2
10.	P-G Andersson	1

Manufacturers’ championship standings

After 1 round
1.	BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	40
2.	Citroen Total World Rally Team	30
3.	Citroen Junior Team	14
4.	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	1

2010 WRC Calendar

14/2/10

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.”

Final Results Rally Sweden:

Pos	No	Driver		Time	Diff Next	Diff 1st
1.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	M	3:09:30.4	0.0	0.0
2.	1	Sébastien LOEB	M	3:10:12.7	+42.3	+42.3
3.	4	Jari-Matti LATVALA	M	3:10:45.8	+33.1	+1:15.4
4.	2	Dani SORDO	M	3:12:12.0	+1:26.2	+2:41.6
5.	7	Sébastien OGIER	M	3:13:45.7	+1:33.7	+4:15.3
6.	6	Henning SOLBERG	M	3:14:53.8	+1:08.1	+5:23.4
7.	12	Matthew WILSON		3:17:24.3	+2:30.5	+7:53.9
8.	15	Mads ÖSTBERG		3:18:52.6	+1:28.3	+9:22.2
9.	11	Petter SOLBERG		3:19:47.9	+55.3	+10:17.5
10.	49	P-G ANDERSSON		3:21:39.3	+1:51.4	+12:08.9
11.	70	Andreas MIKKELSEN		3:22:04.6	+25.3	+12:34.2
12.	27	Janne TUOHINO		3:22:36.6	+32.0	+13:06.2
13.	14	Khalid AL QASSIMI		3:23:57.0	+1:20.4	+14:26.6
14.	21	Martin PROKOP		3:24:35.7	+38.7	+15:05.3
15.	24	Patrik SANDELL		3:26:19.4	+1:43.7	+16:49.0
16.	25	Eyvind BRYNILDSEN		3:26:37.3	+17.9	+17:06.9
17.	63	Peter jr. VAN MERKSTEIJN		3:27:10.0	+32.7	+17:39.6
18.	50	Patrik FLODIN	P	3:28:04.7	+54.7	+18:34.3
19.	26	Bernardo SOUSA		3:28:54.9	+50.2	+19:24.5
20.	46	Anders GRÖNDAL	P	3:29:17.8	+22.9	+19:47.4
21.	5	Marcus GRÖNHOLM	M	3:33:01.2	+3:43.4	+23:30.8
22.	76	Michal SOLOWOW		3:33:04.3	+3.1	+23:33.9
23.	31	Armindo ARAÚJO	P	3:33:09.6	+5.3	+23:39.2
24.	62	Mattias THERMAN		3:33:34.3	+24.7	+24:03.9
25.	51	Per-Arne SÄÄV		3:39:28.7	+5:54.4	+29:58.3
26.	77	Marius AASEN		3:40:21.3	+52.6	+30:50.9
27.	91	Ott TÄNAK		3:40:35.0	+13.7	+31:04.6
28.	41	Fabio FRISIERO	P	3:44:49.8	+4:14.8	+35:19.4
29.	65	Peter VAN MERKSTEIJN		3:46:42.0	+1:52.2	+37:11.6
30.	8	Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN	M	3:47:17.6	+35.6	+37:47.2
31.	34	Martin SEMERAD	P	3:49:52.5	+2:34.9	+40:22.1
32.	43	Reijo MUHONEN	P	3:53:00.0	+3:07.5	+43:29.6
33.	74	Hermann GASSNER JUNIOR		3:56:44.7	+3:44.7	+47:14.3
34.	87	Lasse STORM		3:58:04.7	+1:20.0	+48:34.3
35.	80	Erdi TIBOR		3:59:04.4	+59.7	+49:34.0
36.	81	Magnus SAMUELSSON		4:00:18.0	+1:13.6	+50:47.6
37.	82	Tony JARDINE		4:03:57.5	+3:39.5	+54:27.1
38.	64	Dennis KUIPERS		4:04:22.2	+24.7	+54:51.8
39.	66	René KUIPERS		4:06:42.3	+2:20.1	+57:11.9
40.	78	Eamonn BOLAND		4:07:04.5	+22.2	+57:34.1
41.	33	Gianluca LINARI	P	4:11:03.3	+3:58.8	+1:01:32.9
42.	84	Brian GREEN		4:16:26.9	+5:23.6	+1:06:56.5
43.	44	Paulo NOBRE	P	4:19:52.8	+3:25.9	+1:10:22.4
44.	90	Harry HUNT		4:28:16.6	+8:23.8	+1:18:46.2

WRC Videos:

http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=300

http://www.youtube.com/user/wrc?blend=1&ob=4

WRC 2010 Drivers:

	Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi rally star Al Qassimi is tackling his third season with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team this year
	Ken Block Extreme sportsman and internet movie sensation, US rally driver Block steps up to the world stage in 2010
	Mikko Hirvonen Championship runner-up in 2008 and 2009 and lead driver at the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
	Jari-Matti Latvala After a season of soaring highs and crushing lows in 2009, just what is Jari-Matti capable of in 2010?
	Sebastien Loeb Aiming for a record breaking seventh World Rally Championship title this year with the Citroen Total World Rally Team
	Sebastien Ogier Junior World Rally Champion in 2008, rising star Ogier returns for his second season with the Citroen Juniors
	Mads Ostberg He’s been loyal to Subaru through thick and thin, but is the Norwegian youngster ready for a change in 2010?
	Kimi Raikkonen This year the 2007 Formula One world champion has swapped his Ferrari for a Citroen World Rally Car. Good man.
	Henning Solberg Flying the flag for Norway, Henning is back for his fourth season in a Ford Focus World Rally car
	Petter Solberg The 2003 World Champion goes it alone again in 2010 – but this time he’s got the same car as Sebastien Loeb
	Dani Sordo Third in the 2009 title fight, Dani is a true all-rounder and is tackling his fifth season with the Citroen Total World Rally Team
	Federico Villagra The seven times Argentinean Champion is the mainstay of the Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team
	Matthew Wilson British youngster Matthew Wilson is hoping to follow in the footsteps of former world rally champions Colin McRae and Richard Burns

More about: citroen eamonn boland ford kimi raikkonen mikko hirvonen rally sweden sebastien loeb world rally championship wrc