Hirvonen wins dramatic Polish rally and now leads championship

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen took the lead in the FIA World Rally Championship yesterday after winning a dramatic Rally Poland in a Focus RS World Rally Car.

It was Ford's third straight victory following wins in Italy and Greece and Hirvonen now heads the drivers' standings by one point with four rounds remaining and the next is his home event in Finland at the end of July.

The Finns led the rally for virtually the entire event, their winning margin 1min 10.3sec after three days of flat-out competition.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were on course for second place in another Focus RS WRC, only to retire with the finish in sight after hitting a barrel and breaking his car's steering on the final speed test in the rally's host town of Mikolajki

This was Poland's first appearance in the WRC since the inaugural championship in 1973. More than 200,000 fans welcomed its return by swamping the picturesque Mazurian Lake District, 250km from Warsaw in the north-east of the country, to watch the action.

Narrow, sandy and blisteringly fast gravel roads challenged the drivers, who tackled 18 special stages covering 352.00km. Such was the pace that Hirvonen won Friday's penultimate speed test at an average speed of 129.44kph.

Hirvonen took the lead on the third stage on Friday morning and Latvala claimed second just one test later after Sébastien Loeb, Hirvonen's title rival, hit a tree stump and broke his car's suspension.

The BP Ford Abu Dhabi duo withstood a determined challenge yesterday morning from third-placed Dani Sordo and measured their pace through today's final leg until the last stage drama. Petter Solberg and Welsh co-driver Phil Mills lost a dipstick in their Xsara and sprayed oil onto the windscreen which slowed their attack.

Loeb restarted under the super rally rules but struggled badly and was only handed eighth place after two other Citroen drivers pulled up to let him pass into the points table.

Rally Poland was first run in 1921 and is the second oldest rally after the Monte. It was last run as a round of the WRC in 1973 but has continued in European championships and last year won by Michal Bebenek, who finished tenth this year.

The championship moves into its final third in Finland next month for one of the sport's great classics. Rally Finland, the home event for Hirvonen and Latvala, is based in Jyväskylä on 30 July - 2 August.

Rally Poland Final positions
1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS	3hr 07min 27.5sec
2. D Sordo/M Marti	Citroen C4	3hr 08min 37.8sec
3. H Solberg/C Menkerud	Ford Focus RS	3hr 09min 33.2sec
4. P Solberg/P Mills	Citroen Xsara	3hr 09min 51.8sec
5. M Wilson/S Martin	Ford Focus RS	3hr 11min 45.0sec
6. K Holowczyc/L Kurzeja	Ford Focus RS	3hr 12min 01.4sec
7. S Loeb/D Elena	Citroen C4	3hr 26min 42.6sec
8. C Rautenbach/D Barritt	Citroen C4	3hr 26min 48.1sec
9. E Novikov/D Moscatt	Citroen C4	3hr 26min 53.7sec
10 M Bebenek/G Bebenek	Mitsubishi Lancer	3hr 30min 36.2sec

World Rally Championship Positions
Drivers		Manufacturers
1. M Hirvonen	58pts	1. Citroen Total	106pts
2. S Loeb	57pts	2. BP Ford Abu Dhabi	89pts
3. D Sordo	39pts	3. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford	60pts
4. H Solberg	27pts	4. Citroen Junior	29pts
5. J-M Latvala	25pts	5. Munchi's Ford	18pts