Mikko Hirvonen came through to take the win on the Wales Rally GB on Sunday, the final round in the 2007
FIA World Rally Championship, while
Sebastien Loeb did enough to ensure he took the 2007 drivers' title.
Hirvonen led the event from start to finish in his Ford Focus RS WRC 07, having built-up a good lead following a dominant performance on the opening leg, when he won five of the six stages.
With an almost 40-odd second cushion going into day 2, the 27-year-old then controlled his pace, before easing off on the final leg and eventually taking the honours by 15.2 seconds - despite an off on the final stage.
Marcus Gronholm meanwhile was second in the sister car, on his 150th outing in the sport and his final event before retiring.
The eight points for the runners-up spot though were not enough to move him back in front of Sebastien Loeb in the drivers' championship and with the Frenchman coming home third he lost out by 4 points.
Loeb opted for a ‘risk-free' strategy, aware that he only had to finish in the top-five to be sure of taking his fourth drivers' crown - a feat only managed to date by two other people in the history of the WRC, namely Tommi Makinen and Juha Kankkunen.
Petter Solberg was next up in fourth for
Subaru, albeit more than a minute further back, followed by Citroen #2 driver,
Daniel Sordo and Britain's
Matthew Wilson, who notched up points for the third time in succession.
Chris Atkinson and OMV Kronos
Citroen's Manfred Stohl rounded out the top eight, with Xavier Pons ninth and
Jari-Matti Latvala tenth.
Full report and result to follow soon...
