Triple World Rally Championship celebration for Ford

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Marcus Gronholm

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February 6, 2006 Ford has many reasons to celebrate overnight for Marcus Gronholm's win in the Uddeholm Swedish Rally in Karlstad; it was Ford’s 50th win in the World Rally Championship, Gronholm’s 20th WRC win (moving him to equal fifth on the all-time list) and it happened on his 38th birthday. The Finn admitted that he isn't so interested in his age anymore but his second win of the season in the Focus WRC06 was the primary reason to celebrate, having dominated the event and led from the first stage. However, of more interest to Ford its lead in the drivers championship and the manufacturers championship. It was a particularly sweet victory for Ford as despite its long and illustrious rally history (the Zodiac, Zephyr, Falcon, Anglia, Cortina, ad infinitum), the last time the marque won in Sweden was in 1978, with Bjorn Waldegard at the wheel of the Escort RS1800, when the WRC was just five years old.

Gronholm’s win, and the exclusion of the third of the big three competitors in WRC, Subaru’s Petter Solberg, the bookies have now firmed Gronholm to 2.25 (5/4) clear second favourite for the drivers championship, though current world champion Sébastien Loeb remains odds-on favourite for the title at 1.70 (approx. 6/4 on). Solberg has now drifted to 8.00 (7/1) and Subaru’s Australian prodigy Chris Atkinson is fourth favourite at a staggering 80/1. Clearly the championship is a three-horse-race after just two events of the 16 event series.

It was a disaterous event for Subaru, and after problems earlier in the event, the team’s focus became testing and learning for the future. Chris Atkinson worked on evaluating new set-ups for the Impreza WRC2006 and ended the rally 11th to score 3 manufacturers’ points. Petter Solberg had a good start to the Leg with a third fastest time in one of the morning’s stages, but his car stalled at the start line of SS18 and a starter motor problem prevented them from getting underway within the regulation 20 second period. Solberg finished the rally but was later excluded from the final results

Marcus Grönholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen led from start to finish in this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship to claim their second consecutive victory following their debut win with the BP-Ford World Rally Team in the same Focus RS in the Rallye Monte Carlo two weeks ago. It was Grönholm’s fourth Swedish victory and he leads the drivers' championship by four points from last year’s dominant driver Sébastien Loeb.

BP-Ford team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen recovered from Friday's overheating problems to finish 12th to help Ford maintain its lead in the manufacturers' championship as Citroen closed in on the lead by scoring more points than any other team.

World Champion Sébastien Loeb poured on the pressure on Marcus Gronholm throughout the event, despite a minor misshape with a non-locking bonnet loosing him valuable time, but it was not enough to get in front of the un-stoppable Scandinavian on his home event.

"Right up to the start of the last stage we tried everything: absolutely everything!" was Loeb's laconic summary of the day's events and it neatly encapsulates the disappointment of a fierce competitor who was unable to gain the upper hand. "Today Marcus was quicker than us. It was as simple as that. On the last day, when Marcus' car had a problem and we closed to within 15 seconds, we tried a daring tyre choice. We've got no regrets about the out come. Another second place, with eight drivers' and constructors' points, is a good start to a season which is going to be fascinating. All the signs are there for a good fight!"

The Swedish Rally is the only pure winter event in the series and temperatures which dipped as low as -23˚C in the snow-covered Värmland region ensured perfect conditions for the three-day event. BFGoodrich's studded winter tyres provided perfect grip throughout and Grönholm's dominance was reflected by the fact that he won 10 of the 19 speed tests, covering 349.02km.

Grönholm began the final leg, held on fresh overnight snow, with a 25.1sec lead over Sebastien Loeb. However, a hydraulic oil leak on the third special stage allowed Loeb to reduce the gap to just 14.4sec before Grönholm responded with fastest time on the final three tests to win by 30.9sec.

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