WRC: Latvala maintains lead over Hirvonen

[Plex]

Jari-Matti Latvala extended his Rally Sweden lead over Mikko Hirvonen to almost a minute this morning, while several other leading contenders dropped by the wayside as conditions deteriorated.

Latvala and Hirvonen stayed out of trouble and, barring accidents or mechanical failures, the Ford teammates will have a virtually unchallenged run to victory.

Their Citroen rivals Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo are currently out of contention and third-placed Henning Solberg also dropped out this morning with a crash during SS11.

Despite winning all six full-length stages yesterday, Latvala hasn't topped the timesheets yet today. But the Finn isn't concerned with stage victories any more.

"I know that other drivers are going faster but I don't need to push and take risks," he said. "I can afford to be cautious and just keep an eye on Mikko."

Hirvonen took eight seconds back from Latvala on the final stage of today's first leg, reducing the lead to under a minute. He too is reluctant to push too hard, however, in an attempt to catch his teammate.

"Things are fine like this, it's important that I just make sure of these eight points for second place," he said.

All three stage victories this morning went to Citroen, with Loeb winning two and Sordo one.

Loeb won the first and third stages of the day but is nearly 25 minutes behind Latvala. He said: "We're back today just to test and work on set-up. I'd prefer to go home but the team want me to drive, so I'll drive."

Gigi Galli was left with third place to himself after Solberg's crash. The latter's brother Petter, who was one of the next cars on the road, told reporters at the end of the stage that "there was a lot of snow and it looks like they spun and went into a ditch.

"I'm so disappointed for [Henning] because he was pushing with everything today. I don't know whether they can get it going again."

Galli now lies nearly 30 seconds behind Hirvonen and over a minute ahead of Petter Solberg, who is fourth. The Italian said: "All I have to do now is just keep control. It would be great to still be in third by tomorrow evening, I think Mikko is too strong for us to catch him."

Suzuki driver Toni Gardemeister also stopped out on SS11. He was able to get going again but lost four minutes and dropped to tenth overall, eight minutes adrift of Latvala.

Top ten leaderboard after SS11

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Latvala Ford 1:38:44.0
2. Hirvonen Ford + 53.9
3. Galli Ford + 1:22.3
4. P Solberg Subaru + 2:34.0
5. Wilson Ford + 3:57.7
6. Mikkelsen Ford + 4:23.7
7. Sordo Citroen + 6:53.0
8. Sandell Peugeot + 6:59.2
9. Hanninen Mitsubishi + 7:03.4
10. Gardemeister Suzuki + 8:00.8

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[Plex]

Latvala claims historic Swedish win

Jari-Matti Latvala has become the youngest winner in World Rally Championship history after clinching Swedish Rally victory in only his second start for the works Ford team.

The 22-year-old Finn dominated the event from the first full-length stages on Friday morning.

A complete set of stage wins during the opening day gave Latvala a massive lead over the competition, which he proceeded to nurse through the remaining two days, ultimately beating teammate Mikko Hirvonen by 58.3 seconds.

Latvala said that becoming the WRC's youngest rally winner meant a great deal to him - especially as the record had previously been held by the late Henri Toivonen, who was 24 years old when he won the 1980 RAC Rally.

"He was a big idol of mine," Latvala said. "I've been thinking that I want to beat this record and we've done it here in Sweden. It's an unbelievable feeling, especially after our difficult start in Monte Carlo."

The result was a spectacular success for Ford, who filled all three podium places with Latvala, Hirvonen and Stobart driver Gigi Galli, and took four of the top five positions as Ramsport's Andreas Mikkelsen claimed fifth behind Petter Solberg (Subaru).

Matthew Wilson had been on course for fifth until the penultimate stage, when a throttle problem cost him 25 minutes, elevating the chasing Mikkelsen into the top five. Mikkelsen had closed on Wilson throughout the second half of the rally, and was delighted to claim his first WRC points.

Before Henning Solberg crashed out of fourth on Saturday morning, Ford had been on course for a crushing 1-2-3-4 finish. The team leave Sweden in the lead of both championships, as arch-rivals Citroen endured a miserable weekend.

World champion Sebastien Loeb crashed when running third on Friday, and although he resumed for the second day, he only returned briefly before terminal engine problems ended his weekend. He is now eight points behind Hirvonen in the drivers' standings.

Loeb's teammate Dani Sordo began the weekend with a five-minute penalty having required an engine change prior to the start of the rally, and ultimately took sixth.

Sordo was helped by the high level of attrition in the rally. In addition to Loeb, Wilson and Solberg's problems, Subaru's Chris Atkinson spent 15 minutes off the road on Friday, while privateer Impreza driver Mad Ostberg dropped out of the points after an accident early on day two. The young Norweigan had run as high as fourth early on in a highly impressive performance, and ultimately recovered to ninth.

Suzuki took another points finish with Toni Gardemeister in seventh, despite losing four minutes with an error on Saturday. His teammate Per-Gunnar Andersson ran in the top eight initially before stopping with engine failure.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Latvala Ford 2h46:41.2
2. Hirvonen Ford + 58.3
3. Galli Ford + 2:23.2
4. P Solberg Subaru + 2:59.4
5. Mikkelsen Ford + 5:46.0
6. Sordo Citroen + 7:13.1
7. Gardemeister Suzuki + 10:35.3
8. Hanninen Mitsubishi + 12:27.5
9. Ostberg Subaru + 13:28.5
10. Ketomaa Subaru + 13:50.7

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