2009 WRC : Mikko Hirvonen wins Rally Poland!

Mikko Hirvonen with Co-Driver Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Focus WRC - BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

MIKOLAJKI, Poland : June 28, 2009 - BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen has won his second consecutive WRC event by claiming victory on the brand new Rally Poland, round eight of the World Rally Championship.

The momentous win, the ninth of his career, promoted Hirvonen, 28, into the lead of the drivers' championship standings with a one point lead over Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb; the man who has won the title for the last five years.

In blazing sunshine, and in front of thousands of spectators, Hirvonen completed the rally closing Super Special without a hitch and drove his Ford Focus onto the finish podium with a winning margin of 1min 10.3sec.

But just as Hirvonen was sealing victory on the final 2.5km head-to-head stage, his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala - on course to complete a one-two victory for Ford - was throwing it all away.

In an almost unbelievable twist of fate, Latvala clipped a sand barrel on the apex of a corner and broke the left-hand steering arm of his Ford Focus. At the next corner his car speared into a metal barrier - wrecking its suspension and getting stuck fast. After a frenzied effort to get the car free again a distraught Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila eventually resorted to pushing it. Retirement came shortly after.

The drama handed second place to Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo who, despite a determined attack through Saturday morning's stages, had looked all but certain of third place today. In the event, that place went to Henning Solberg of the Stobart VK M-Sport team.

Hirvonen held the lead of the rally since Friday's second stage when he snatched the position from Loeb. However, any chance of an ongoing battle with his rival evaporated on the very next stage when the Frenchman retired after hitting a tree stump.

Watching from the finish line as Latvala's drama played out in front of him, Hirvonen was totally stunned. "I can't believe what I'm seeing," he said.

Later, Hirvonen gave a fuller account of his feelings. "For me it was a fantastic rally from start to finish," he said. "When Sebastien made his mistake on Friday, I thought it would be a good. Sordo pushed us harder than we expected on Saturday but on these roads I really enjoyed the fight. Okay, despite Jari's mistake we're still in the lead of the drivers' championship by one point, and this is the first time I've ever won two WRC rallies in a row, so that feels good. Now I want to make it three in a row on my home rally in Finland."

"I still don't really know what to say about Jari-Matti," he added. "It's definitely something you wouldn't expect to happen. It came at a really, really bad time. There was no pressure on him but mistakes do happen."

Dani Sordo was happy with his unexpected last minute promotion. "Third place was not bad, now second is better but I'm really disappointed for Jari-Matti," he said. "The rally has been a good for me. Yesterday I tried to pressure the guys ahead but on the second passes my speed wasn't there. I will try and work on the situation before Finland. I have a test planned before the rally and I will try something different in the car to give me more confidence."

Latvala's last stage catastrophe and eight points for Sordo was a huge disappointment for Ford in the manufacturers' contest. A maximum 18 points would have pulled the squad to within six points of Citroen. Instead Citroen head to Finland 17 points ahead.

After finding his best form on the rally's final day, Henning Solberg was delighted to bring his Ford home in a podium place. "Wow, what an end to the rally," he said. "I've been struggling with the feeling but today it came much better. Now I'm really looking forward to Finland; that will be my rally. I will have the right pace on Friday there."

Petter Solberg was fourth in his 2006 specification Xsara and felt his place relative to the other drivers' cars was about right. "I have to be realistic; this is the best result I could get," he said. "Earlier in the event Ogier and Henning should have been beating me, so to keep up with them in this old girl isn't bad. Maybe we would have done better without the oil on the screen today, I don't know."

Briton Matthew Wilson brought his Stobart Team Ford Focus home in fifth. "It's been tough but enjoyable; the stages here are awesome," he said. "Getting consistency in the pace notes is tough, but it’s been really good preparation for Finland and it will be a help to have had three days driving at these speeds. We took it steadier today but this afternoon we had to push because Holowczyc was getting a bit too close."

Sure enough, the Stobart team's Polish guest driver Krzysztof Holowczyc finished sixth to become the first Pole to score points in the World Rally Championship. A three-time winner of Rally Poland, most recently in 2005, Holowczyc said he had enjoyed himself at the wheel of his Ford Focus.

"I was last in a World Rally Car five years ago and it's amazing how they’ve changed!" he said. "It’s been a fantastic rally and this is my best WRC finish ever - which was a big surprise at the end. I have to thank the fans, I have never seen so many people and flags and their energy and the atmosphere has really helped me along."

After his Citroen-assisted salvage job today Sebastien Loeb brought his C4 to the finish in seventh to collect two drivers' points and four for Citroen in the manufacturers' championship. "It's better than nothing," he shrugged. "Even one point could be very important so I'm happy to take them. This has been a rally to forget for me. I hope it will be much better next time."

Citroen Junior Team driver Conrad Rautenbach finished eighth to take the last drivers' championship point.

2009 WRC Round 8 : Rally Poland Result

Pos	No	Driver	Time	Diff Next	Diff 1st
1.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	3:07:27.5	0.0	0.0
2.	2	Dani SORDO	3:08:37.8	+1:10.3	+1:10.3
3.	6	Henning SOLBERG	3:09:33.2	+55.4	+2:05.7
4.	11	Petter SOLBERG	3:09:51.8	+18.6	+2:24.3
5.	5	Matthew WILSON	3:11:45.0	+1:53.2	+4:17.5
6.	15	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC	3:12:01.4	+16.4	+4:33.9
7.	1	Sebastien LOEB	3:26:42.6	+14:41.2	+19:15.1
8.	8	Conrad RAUTENBACH	3:26:48.1	+5.5	+19:20.6
9.	7	Evgeny NOVIKOV	3:26:53.7	+5.6	+19:26.2
10.	64	Michal BEBENEK	3:30:36.2	+3:42.5	+23:08.7
11.	37	Kevin ABBRING	3:35:05.2	+4:29.0	+27:37.7
12.	38	Martin PROKOP	3:36:15.4	+1:10.2	+28:47.9
13.	68	Lukasz SZTUKA	3:37:48.5	+1:33.1	+30:21.0
14.	71	Valeriy GORBAN	3:39:50.0	+2:01.5	+32:22.5
15.	70	Vytautas SVEDAS	3:40:34.3	+44.3	+33:06.8
16.	35	Yoann BONATO	3:40:39.7	+5.4	+33:12.2
17.	36	Hans WEIJS	3:45:17.2	+4:37.5	+37:49.7
18.	33	Simone BERTOLOTTI	3:51:50.3	+6:33.1	+44:22.8
19.	88	Mark WALLENWEIN	3:54:32.4	+2:42.1	+47:04.9
20.	59	Radoslaw TYPA	3:56:32.3	+1:59.9	+49:04.8

Drivers' championship standings after 7 rounds

Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Point
1.	M. HIRVONEN	6	8	8	8	R	8	10	10	58
2.	S. LOEB	10	10	10	10	10	5	R	2	57
3.	D. SORDO	8	4	5	6	8	0	0	8	39
4.	H. SOLBERG	5	5	0	4	6	1	0	6	27
5.	J-M LATVALA	0	6	0	R	3	10	6	R	25
6.	P. SOLBERG	-	3	6	5	R	6	R	5	25
7.	M. WILSON	2	2	4	R	4	3	0	4	19
8.	F. VILLAGRA	-	-	2	2	5	R	5	-	14
9.	S. OGIER	3	0	R	0	2	R	8	R	13
10.	C. RAUTENBACH	0	R	3	R	R	0	4	1	8
11.	M. OSTBERG	-	0	-	3	-	2	2	R	7
12.	K. AL-QASSIMI	1	-	1	1	-	0	3	-	6
13.	E. NOVIKOV	-	0	R	R	-	4	0	0	4
14.	C. ATKINSON	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
15.	K. HOLOWCZYC	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	3
16.	U. AAVA	0	1	-	-	-	-	-		1
17.	N. AL-ATTIYAH	-	0	0	0	1	0	0		1
18.	L. ATHANASSOULAS	-	-	-	-			1		1

Manufacturers' championship standings after 8 rounds

Pos	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Point
1.	CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM	18	14	16	16	18	7	4	12	106
2.	BP FORD ABU DHABI WORLD RALLY TEAM	8	14	10	8	3	18	18	10	89
3.	STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM	8	8	6	5	10	7	5	11	60
4.	CITROEN JUNIOR RALLY TEAM	5	2	4	0	2	5	6	5	29
5.	MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM	-	-	3	4	5	0	6	-	18