Hirvonen claims victory in Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen got his World Rally Championship title bid off to the best possible start with a comfortable victory in Sweden.

The Ford driver made the most of Saturday's failed tyre gamble by rival Sebastien Loeb to ease to the win with a 42.3 second advantage over the Frenchman.

Hirvonen had held a 16.6 second lead heading into Sunday's final five stages, and he never looked like relinquishing that advantage as he outpaced Loeb on all bar one of those tests.

Citroen ace Loeb, who has won six world titles in a row, trimmed 0.2 seconds out of his deficit on the day's opening stage but that was to be as close as he got.

Hirvonen was 7.3 seconds quicker than his rival through stage 18 and 8.4 seconds quicker on stage 19, effectively ending the battle between the two.

The Finn told www.wrc.com: "It's absolutely fantastic and I'm really happy it's over after those last few stages; you can't imagine how nervous I was in there.

"It's a perfect start to my year, I've never won the first round before, but after last season I've got one more year of experience.

"Now I plan to carry on like this. It's a new game in Mexico and I can't wait to get started again."

Loeb was deflated after failing to overhaul his rival, but was quick to congratulate him on an excellent performance.

"It's been a tough weekend, and Mikko has done a perfect rally," he said.

"We made a little mistake yesterday, but even without it I don't know if I would have been able to beat him in the stages. He was strong and he deserves his victory. I did my best. There's nothing more to say."

Hirvonen's Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was a solid third while Dani Sordo was fourth for Citroen.

Sebastien Ogier was fifth in another Citroen with Henning Solberg sixth for Stobart Ford.

His team-mate Matthew Wilson was seventh ahead of Mads Ostberg while Petter Solberg and Per-Gunnar Andersson rounded out the points finishes.

Former world champion Marcus Gronholm finished 21st after enduring problems on the opening day while Kimi Raikkonen was 30th.

The former Ferrari F1 driver lost 26 minutes when he hit a snow bank on stage six.

Final standings:: 1 Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Ford 3hrs 09mins 30.400secs, 2 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen 3:10:12.700, 3 Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Ford 3:10:45.800, 4 Daniel Sordo (Spa) Citroen 3:12:12.000, 5 Sebastien Ogier (Fra) Citroen 3:13:45.700, 6 Henning Solberg (Nor) Ford 3:14:53.800, 7 Matthew Wilson (Gbr) Ford 3:17:24.300, 8 Mads Ostberg (Nor) Subaru 3:18:52.600, 9 Petter Solberg (Nor) Citroen 3:19:47.900, 10 Per-Gunnar Andersson (Swe) Suzuki 3:21:39.300

Drivers' Championship standings: 1 Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Ford 25pts, 2 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen 18, 3 Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Ford 15, 4 Daniel Sordo (Spa) Citroen 12, 5 Sebastien Ogier (Fra) Citroen 10, 6 Henning Solberg (Nor) Ford 8, 7 Matthew Wilson (Gbr) Ford 6, 8 Mads Ostberg (Nor) Subaru 4, 9 Petter Solberg (Nor) Citroen 2, 10 Per-Gunnar Andersson (Swe) Suzuki 1

Manufacturers' Championship standings: 1 Ford 40pts, 2 Citroen 30, 3 Stobart 14, 3 Citroen Junior 14