Hirvonen wins Sweden rally

With each of the drivers in the top 10 relatively secure in their positions there were no last-ditch heroics on SS19 or SS20, the penultimate stage of Rally Sweden.

With much of the ice packed surface destroyed on the earlier pass, there was plenty of gravel on the repeated Rammen stage, potentially very bad news indeed for the metal studded tyres the cars were shod with.

With only the 23.41km repeat of Varmullsasen to go, rally leader Mikko Hirvonen summed up the feelings of most of the competitors. "The stage is all gravel, nothing else," he said. "I came very slowly, just to keep the tyres. Looking at the splits, it seems Sebastien is doing the same. We have to keep the tyres for the last stage. Just one to go..."

Trailing Hirvonen by 36.7sec ahead of the decisive Varmullsasen, Loeb was taking no risks either. "I didn’t push hard because I tried to save my tyres," he said. "I have no other goal than to finish now. I’d be happy with second place; it’s not so bad."

There were no changes in the top ten positions on SS19 or SS20.

Hirvonen wins Sweden rally

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 back 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.

Third place in Sweden, 33.1sec behind Loeb, was Hirvonen’s Ford team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala.

Fourth went to Loeb’s team-mate Dani Sordo, 1min 26.2sec behind Latvala, while fifth was claimed by Sebastien Ogier of the Citroen Junior Team.