Mikko Hirvonen’s superb Rally Sweden victory not only gave him an early lead in the World Rally Championship, but also propelled him into the head of the EDGE Race for 2011.
The Finn (pictured) lay second at the end of day one, but used his good road position for the second day’s running to take the lead by the event’s mid-point, and resisted the pressure from behind to claim victory by a scant 6.5 seconds.
His win was doubly significant as it was his 13th WRC win in Ford machinery – making him the manufacturer’s most successful driver in World Championship history in terms of victories. Despite all this though, his 42nd position in the Castrol Rankings remains unchanged, as he also won the same event last year.
Hirvonen’s nearest rival was surprisingly not Sebastien Loeb, Jari-Matti Latvala or Petter Solberg, but was instead young Norwegian Mads Ostberg.
Ostberg, who began the rally only 326th in the Castrol Rankings, stunned the onlookers as he led the opening day and hung on during the remainder of the rally, despite having to act as a snow plough for the rest. The Stobart Ford driver’s second place marked his first WRC podium and moved him up 89 places in the Rankings to 237th. Plenty more is to come from him.
Jari-Matti Latvala put the second factory Ford on the final step of the podium – just as he did 12 months ago – and kept his 21st spot in the Castrol Rankings and his status as Finland’s top driver in the process.
There was a position gain for Citroen’s top driver on the event, Sebastien Ogier, who brought his new DS3 machine home in fourth and overtook IndyCar ace Ryan Briscoe for 19th place along the way.
His team-mate Sebastien Loeb had no such luck. The seven-time world champion suffered badly from running first on the road on day one – when the snow was at its heaviest, and was unable to finish higher than sixth, despite setting six fastest stage times on the second day.
The result left him unable to remove Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber from second place in the Castrol Rankings, and ensured that the Australian’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel kept his number one spot for an astonishing 47th consecutive week.
Petter Solberg (22) finished fifth in his Citroen while his quasi team-mate Kimi Raikkonen (152) finally put an end to a year of falling down the Castrol Rankings by finishing eighth and giving himself a 29-place gain.
Per-Gunnar Andersson (275), who relied on donations from the public to make it onto the Rally Sweden entry list, led the rally after the opening stage in his privately-run Ford Fiesta, and finished seventh, despite a series of incidents. That was the catalyst for a 36-place rise up the Castrol Rankings, while another Ford man, Henning Solberg (108), rolled out of the event on day two while lying in a podium position, and costing himself 13 Rankings places.
Source: castroldriverrankings.com
Related posts:
- Mikko Hirvonen leads Rally Sweden for Ford in new Fiesta RS WRC
- Loeb wins seventh world title on home soil
- Lewis Hamilton under threat from Sebastien Loeb
- WRC Rally Sweden 2011 – Day 3 Overview
- Bryan Bouffier’s Monte win promotes him 331 places
- Mikko Hirvonen donates 2010 winnings to charity
- Christmas Q&A Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala
- All or nothing for Sebastien Loeb in Rally Wales GB
- Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finish 5th in Sweden 2011
- Sebastien Loeb leads WRC into new era
