The Ford World Rally Team took the two top spots on the podium after championship rival Citroen suffered two crashes on day one. Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala made the most of the opportunity to score maximum points in the race for the championship and placed first and second, respectively. Privateer Petter Solberg claimed the final podium spot.
Latvala and co-driver Mikka Antilla only finished 14,7 seconds behind their teammates after Hirvonen lost the lead by sweeping the road for the majority of the event, which saw the tables turned in Latvala’s favour. The pair swapped first, but the lead remained in the favour of Latvala – who slowed at the end of the penultimate stage so that Hirvonen could score maximum points.
“At the start of the season, we agreed to help each other, and Jari-Matti showed today what a team player he is. He had a great opportunity to win this rally but he gave it up to help me in my fight for the championship and I appreciate that. Two years ago, I lost the world title by a single point, so every point counts,” Hirvonen admitted.
“I want to be in this team and we all work well together. I had a passion to win here, but I had to look at the bigger picture and this was the time to support Mikko,” Latvala said. Latvala still managed to scrape more points together during the power stage, which he finished in second behind a hard-charging Sebastien Loeb – eager to make some points after his crash on Friday.
Championship leader Loeb is now under pressure from Hirvonen, who is just 15 points adrift in the standings. With three more rallies left in the season, can Hirvonen turn the championship in his favour or will Loeb and team-mate Ogier outshine the rest of the field in their home event (France) at the end of the month?
Rallye de France happens on 29 September to 2 October.
