Sardinia glory for Hirvonen

Mikko Hirvonen has won Rally Italia Sardegna. Co-driven by fellow Finn Jarmo Lehtinen, Hirvonen moved in front on Friday’s first stage and drove without error thereafter to take a comfortable victory on the Mediterranean island.

The result secures his first victory in the FIA World Rally Championship this season and his first as a factory Citroen driver. It also guarantees him second place in the WRC drivers’ standings ahead of the final round in Spain next month.

Evgeny Novikov finished second with M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak taking third.

SS16: Solberg takes Power Stage win

Petter Solberg has won the Rally Italia Sardegna event-closing Power Stage to earn three FIA World Rally Championship bonus points in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC as Mikko Hirvonen celebrated his first victory of 2012 driving a works Citroen DS3 WRC.

Solberg was 0.2s quicker than factory Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala with Thierry Neuville claiming the final bonus point in his Qatar World Rally Team Citroen.

WRC Team MINI Portugal’s Chris Atkinson’s efforts to snatch fifth from Sebastien Ogier failed when he lost more than a minute although the precise cause is currently unclear.

Mads Ostberg’s bid for Power Stage glory ended when he picked up a puncture striking a stone in his Adapta Fiesta.

Ott Tanak secured his maiden WRC podium with the sixth fastest time, while M-Sport team-mate Evgeny Novikov secured second place by going fourth quickest. Hirvonen was fifth fastest and wins by 1m20.6s, his first victory for Citroen and his first in Sardinia after finishing runner-up on five previous occasions.

Nicolas Fuchs reached the stage finish to secure his maiden Production Car World Rally Championship victory in a Symtech Racing Subaru Impreza.