Sweden - day 3: Latvala re-writes record books.

Sunday, 10th February 2008

Swedish Rally - Day 3 report: Jari-Matti Latvala becomes youngest driver to ever win a WRC event.

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"I came here to win but Jari-Matti made it clear on Friday that he was the man of the rally so I had to settle for second. I was frustrated I couldn't find a rhythm on Friday but then I eased my pace because I wanted to make sure of the points," he explained.

His second place and Jari’s first also gave the BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT the maximum haul possible and that lifts the M-Sport-run outfit into P1 in the manufacturers', with 26 points, 11 more than the Citroen Total WRT, which drops fourth.

Gigi Galli took the final spot on the podium for the Stobart Ford squad, albeit more than a minute further back. The Italian was in fine form throughout and considering this is only his second outing with the Focus it was especially impressive.

Subaru's Petter Solberg was next up in fourth, while Andreas Mikkelsen came fifth in his privately entered Ford Focus, gaining a spot in the penultimate stage when Matthew Wilson had throttle problems. The Englishman, who had been 7.9 seconds in front, managed to complete SS19, but didn’t get much further and retired from the event en-route to SS20.

Citroen #2 Daniel Sordo rounded out the top six and considering he started on the back-foot following an engine change, he couldn’t really have hoped for more. Indeed without that 5 minute penalty he would have finished third, fractionally ahead of Galli.

Suzuki’s Toni Gardemeister brought his SX4 WRC car home in seventh with Juho Hanninen eighth in his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.

Hanninen incidentally also took the honours in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category, finishing over a minute up on Jari Ketomaa, who was second in class and tenth overall.

Of the other 'works' drivers, Stobart Ford’s Henning Solberg and Subaru’s Chris Atkinson both finished - and picked up the final few manufacturers’ points, coming home in 13th and 21st respectively. Henning and Chris had problems earlier in the event that stopped them finishing higher.