GRÖNHOLM'S FORD FOCUS CLAIMS BLUE OVAL'S 50TH WORLD RALLY WIN
Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen scored Ford's 50th world rally victory today when they won the Swedish Rally in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. The Finns led from start to finish on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship to provide the perfect birthday present for Grönholm who is 38 today.
It was the second consecutive victory for Grönholm and Rautiainen, who claimed a debut win with the BP-Ford World Rally Team in the same Focus RS on the Rallye Monte Carlo two weeks ago. It was his fourth Swedish victory and he leads the drivers' championship by four points. BP-Ford team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen recovered from Friday's overheating problems to finish 12th to help Ford maintain its lead in the manufacturers' championship.
The Swedish Rally is the only pure winter event in the series and temperatures which dipped as low as -23˚C in the snow-covered Värmland region ensured perfect conditions for the three-day event. BFGoodrich's studded winter tyres provided perfect grip throughout and Grönholm's dominance was reflected by the fact that he won 10 of the 19 speed tests, covering 349.02km.
Grönholm began today's final leg, held on fresh overnight snow, with a 25.1sec lead over Sebastien Loeb. However, a hydraulic oil leak on the third special stage allowed Loeb to reduce the gap to just 14.4sec before Grönholm responded with fastest time on the final three tests to win by 30.9sec.
"This is another fantastic result," he said. "After my first test in the Focus RS here before Christmas, I thought I could take a good result in the rally but to win is just amazing. To win both my first two rallies in the car is a dream and it's good for the future. My birthday isn't so important now. The big thing for me is that the Focus has proved so competitive all weekend. BFGoodrich provided me with great tyres and I set some superb stage times. I just hope that the car will be as competitive on gravel because it would be great to continue this winning run on the next round.
"We had a scary moment this morning when hydraulic oil began to leak onto the windscreen midway through the last stage before service. I had to use the manual gearchange system and had no active differential. I carried on until the end of the stage but lost a lot of time." The leak was traced to a filter which exploded, spraying all the hydraulic oil onto the windscreen. The team replaced the filter and the Focus RS was restored to full health.
Hirvonen and Lehtinen continued under SupeRally regulations after stopping on Friday's penultimate stage with an overheating engine after the water pump belt broke. Despite a 10 minute penalty, 25-year-old Hirvonen fought back from 33rd to climb into a points position for Ford.
"To score points is a good way to end because on Friday evening that didn't look possible," he said. "I'm happy with my speed and if it hadn't been for Friday's trouble then I'm sure I could have taken a podium. Conditions were perfect and the Focus was great to drive on the snow and ice. It was nice to be first on the road today because I could pick my own driving line on the flowing roads."
BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson expressed his delight at the team's second consecutive victory. "It continues the great start to the season that we made in Monte Carlo," he said. "I always felt confident that we could win here but I was concerned when Mikko had his problem on Friday in case it was repeated on Marcus' car. It wasn't and we went on to dominate the event."
Ford TeamRS director Jost Capito said: "To win the first two rallies of the season, both of which are very different in nature, with a car based on the new Ford Focus ST is fantastic. It's great that with the Focus RS WRC we can offer Marcus and Mikko a car in which they can show their talent."
News from our Rivals
Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) won the first three stages but had no answer to Grönholm on the second loop. Daniel Carlsson and Gigi Galli (both Mitsubishi) continued their thrilling fight for the final podium place. They swapped places four times in six stages and were rarely more than a second apart. They entered the final test split by just 0.2sec but Carlsson pulled clear to beat the Italian by 7.0sec. Janne Tuohino (Citroen) was on course for fifth but stopped less than 1km from the finish of the last stage allowing Thomas Rådström to move up. Other major retirements included Mattias Ekström (Skoda), who crashed out of fifth on the opening stage, and team-mate Andreas Aigner who retired with engine problems. Petter Solberg's (Subaru) troubles continued when he dropped more than eight minutes on the penultimate stage after stalling at the start. A faulty starter motor delayed his restart. He finished but was excluded for not clearing the start control in time.
Next round
Teams make their first long-haul journey of the year next month for the season's first gravel event. The Rally Mexico is based in Leon on 2 - 6 March.
Final positions
1. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 09min 01.9sec
2. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen Xsara 3hr 09min 32.8sec
3. D Carlsson/B Holmstrand S Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 11min 58.7sec
4. G Galli/G Bernacchini I Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 12min 05.7sec
5. T Rådström/J Skallman S Subaru Impreza 3hr 14min 55.2sec
6. K Katajamäki/T Alane FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 16min 36.7sec
7. X Pons/C Del Barrio E Citroen Xsara 3hr 17min 37.5sec
8. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Peugeot 307 3hr 18min 03.4sec
9. J Joge/M Andersson S Peugeot 206 3hr 18min 19.1sec
10 J Tuohino/R Pietilainen FIN Citroen Xsara 3hr 18min 44.9sec
FIA World Rally Championship (after round 2 of 16)
Drivers
1. M Grönholm 20pts
2. S Loeb 16pts
3= T Gardemeister 6pts
3= D Carlsson 6pts
5= M Stohl 5pts
5= G Galli 5pts
Manufacturers
1. Ford 26pts
2. Kronos Citroen 24pts
3. OMV -Peugeot Norway 10pts
4. Subaru 8pts
5. Stobart VK M-Sport 7pts
6. Red-Bull Skoda 3pts
____________________
Rick (Rokie)
rtdring@yahoo.com
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