BP Ford Abu Dhabi's
Mikko Hirvonen secured the laurels on the Rally of Turkey on Sunday and in the process re-took the initiative in the battle for the drivers' title ahead of the summer break.
Hirvonen led for most of the opening day, before easing off in the final stage in order to give himself a better position on the road on day two. That 'tactical manoeuvre' worked perfectly and he was back at the head of the leader-board following the first loop on Saturday morning.
He eventually ended day two 16 seconds up on his team-mate
Jari-Matti Latvala - and almost 35 seconds up on his chief championship rival,
Sebastien Loeb.
Although he lost time on the first stage on Sunday morning after stalling at the start, something that saw his cushion cut back to 7.5 seconds, he took 5.2 seconds back in SS18 and that 12.7 second advantage was enough to give him the win - his second of the season.
Mikko eventually took P1 by 7.9 seconds and he now lies 3 points in front of Loeb with 8 of the 15 events done and dusted.
Jari-Matti Latvala meanwhile had to settle for the runners-up spot, with Sebastien Loeb third, after having to play the 'road sweeper' on days one and two - something that put the Frenchman at a considerable disadvantage as he had to clear away all the loose gravel.
Seb's team-mate Dani Sordo was fourth, having overhauled
Henning Solberg's
Stobart Ford on the final leg, while
Petter Solberg and
Matthew Wilson came in sixth and seventh.
Conrad Rautenbach took the final drivers' point in his privately entered C4 WRC, with Munchi's Ford duo
Federico Villagra and Barry Clark ninth and tenth.
Subaru's
Chris Atkinson finished under the SupeRally having re-started on Saturday after sustaining suspension damage in SS6, while
Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson retired their
Suzuki SX4 WRCs after technical problems on day two in SS11.
Gigi Galli also failed to finish, unable to start this morning due to exhaustion and dehydration.
Full report and result to follow soon...
