WRC:Mikko Hirvonen wins rally, three Ford on podium

[Plex]

Mikko Hirvonen took victory for Ford in the inaugural Rally Norway WRC event, with team mate Marcus Gr�nholm in a close second place, quashing earlier speculation that the team might ask Mikko to allow Marcus to win for his position in the championship.

Henning Solberg came out on top from the brotherly battle for third, beating little brother Petter by 16.5 seconds after a storming third leg on Sunday for the Team Expert driver. Solberg had to make do with fourth after struggling on the final day with shorter studs on his tyres but he fought tooth and nail to the end to try and out-do his brother.

Jari-Matti Latvala from Finland claimed more points for Ford in 5th place, and Swede Daniel Carlsson took seventh. Eight of the top ten drivers were from the Nordic countries, with Italian Gigi Galli in sixth and Jan Kopecky from the Czech Republic the only non-Scandinavians to claw their way into the top set.

Local heroes Rune Dalsj� and Andreas Mikkelsen came 9th and 10th respectively, proving themselves more than capable in front of the home crowd. Mikkelsen's achievement is particularly noteworthy as the seventeen year old is a relative newcomer and doesn't yet have a driving license in Norway.

Champion S�bastian Loeb had been showing strong results in the first Leg and fist half of Leg 2 but he planted his Citroen in a snow bank on SS12 and lost eight minutes getting clear.

RallyLive