Rally Sweden Day Three

2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
RALLY SWEDEN

12.02.2012

The Ford World Rally Team crew of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila claimed their second victory in Rally Sweden today, winning the event by 16.6 seconds after 349.16 competitive kilometres. Former team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished second for Citroën while Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson took the final podium position after a hard-fought battle to the finish.

In the FIA World Rally Championship standings, Sébastien Loeb continues to lead and the Frenchman has seven points in hand to team-mate Hirvonen. Petter Solberg and Latvala hold third and fourth respectively. And, in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Citroën heads the leaderboard, 10 points ahead of Ford.

Today’s route took in two loops of three stages, finishing with the 4.66 kilometre Power Stage in which additional points were awarded to the fastest three drivers through this single stage. Here, Loeb, Solberg and Latvala claimed an additional three, two and one point respectively, adding to their tally in the overall classification.

Latvala started the day on a charge, the Finn winning the opening two stages to consolidate his lead over Hirvonen. He ran without problems throughout the day and looked set to claim a commanding victory until hitting a rock this afternoon, causing a puncture that lost him 30 seconds. Coincidentally team-mate Solberg hit exactly the same rock with the same result. However, such was the competition with Østberg, Solberg not only lost 30 seconds but also third position to his fellow countryman. Reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb finished sixth behind Evgeny Novikov, and all other positions in the top 10 remained unchanged.

The FIA World Rally Championship crews now head to the Americas for Rally Mexico (8-11 March).

Rally Sweden – Final Unofficial Results (subject to final scrutineering)

1.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
2.   Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
3.   Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
4.   Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson
5.   Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet
6.   Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
7.   Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor
8.   Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander
9.   Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza
10. Eyvind Brynildsen/Cato Menkerud

Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
MINI Cooper Works WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC

3 hr 18 min 28.3sec
3 hr 18 min 44.9sec
3 hr 19 min 07.1sec
3 hr 19 min 42.6sec
3 hr 21 min 09.7sec
3 hr 21 min 23.4sec
3 hr 22 min 17.8sec
3 hr 23 min 37.2sec
3 hr 23 min 58.3sec
3 hr 24 min 55.5sec

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 2 of 13 rounds)

Sébastien Loeb (FRA)
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)
Petter Solberg (NOR)
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)
Evgeny Novikov (RUS)
Dani Sordo (ESP)
Mads Østberg (NOR)
François Delecour (FRA)
Henning Solberg (NOR)
Pierre Campana (FRA)
Ott Tänak (EST)
Patrik Sandell (SWE)
Martin Prokop (CZE)
Armindo Araújo (PRT)
Eyvind Brynildsen (NOR)

39 points
32 points
29 points
26 points
21 points
18 points
15 points
8 points
6 points
6 points
4 points
4 points
4 points
1 point
1 point

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 2 of 13 rounds)

Citroën Total World Rally Team
Ford World Rally Team
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
MINI WRC Team
Qatar World Rally Team

65 points
55 points
28 points
26 points
8 points