Henning Solberg's year in the sister car was not quite so spectacular, but the Norwegian did score more points - 34 to the 30 notched up by Jari, and he gave the
Stobart squad its first ever top-three finish with a third place on the inaugural Rally Norway.
The only other drivers' that graced the podium were
Daniel Sordo,
Petter Solberg and
Francois Duval.
Dani notched up 65 points in 2007, taking seven rostrum finishes, including four runners-up spots. The fact three of these came on gravel was a testimony to his increasing ability on the loose stuff.
Petter had another season to forget, his third place finish in Greece the highlight, although he did end up second in Portugal, albeit only after all the Ford Focus RS WRC06 runners, including Gronholm, Hirvonen and Latvala, were penalised for a minor technical infringement.
Petter and
Subaru never looked like winning and the Banbury-based outfit also nearly lost out to the Stobart team in the manufacturers' championship, eventually finishing just 6 points ahead. No surprise either then that
Chris Atkinson couldn't do much in the other Impreza WRC car. The Aussie tried, but three fourth places were as good as it got.
Francois Duval was outstanding on the Rallye Deutschland and took second – and he could have probably won on his debut outing with the OMV Kronos
Citroen team had he had a bit better luck. His other two outings with the Belgian-based outfit in Spain and France weren't quite so fruitful – but he had made his point in Germany.
Others deserve a mention too, including Matt Wilson, who seemed to find his feet at the end of the year, taking three points finishes in succession in Japan, Ireland and GB after he brought his Focus home in 4th, 7th and 6th respectively. Matt ended the year with 11 points on the board.
Manfred Stohl also scored on several occasions, although the Austrian couldn't repeat the form he showed in '06, which took him to four podiums.
![Ford celebrate after clinching the manufacturers' championship. Rally Ireland 2007 [PIC CREDIT: BP FORD WRT]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/398742.jpg)
