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.

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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.

"This is another fantastic result," he said. "After my first test in the Focus RS here before Christmas, I thought I could take a good result in the rally but to win is just amazing. To win both my first two rallies in the car is a dream and it's good for the future. My birthday isn't so important now. The big thing for me is that the Focus has proved so competitive all weekend. BFGoodrich provided me with great tyres and I set some superb stage times. I just hope that the car will be as competitive on gravel because it would be great to continue this winning run on the next round.

"We had a scary moment on the final morning when hydraulic oil began to leak onto the windscreen midway through the last stage before service. I had to use the manual gearchange system and had no active differential. I carried on until the end of the stage but lost a lot of time." The leak was traced to a filter which exploded, spraying all the hydraulic oil onto the windscreen. The team replaced the filter and the Focus RS was restored to full health.

BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson expressed his delight at the team's second consecutive victory. "It continues the great start to the season that we made in Monte Carlo," he said. "I always felt confident that we could win here but I was concerned when Mikko had his problem on Friday in case it was repeated on Marcus' car. It wasn't and we went on to dominate the event."

Ford TeamRS director Jost Capito said: "To win the first two rallies of the season, both of which are very different in nature, with a car based on the new Ford Focus XR5 Turbo is fantastic. It's great that with the Focus RS WRC we can offer Marcus and Mikko a car in which they can show their talent."

Kronos Total Citroen Team principal Marc van Dalen was delighted by a very positive rally.

"We are very happy," he said. "As usual, Sébastien has been superb. He was the only person able to keep up with Marcus Grönholm, who was undoubtedly the quickest driver here. Xevi's performance has surpassed my expectations. He's been entirely consistent and not made a single mistake, to bring us a result that we thought was impossible given the high number of local specialists in World Rally Cars. He can quite rightly feel proud of himself. Dani made a small mistake, but he has brought the car back in one piece. Finally, the team has once more functioned without the slightest hiccup - as was also the case in Monte Carlo. This was a rally that many of our people were unfamiliar with, so their excellent performance was fantastic, and very encouraging as we all head off to Mexico for the first time."

Daniel Carlsson and Gigi Galli (both Mitsubishi) fought out a thrilling contest for the final podium place, swapping places four times in six stages and were rarely more than a second apart.

They entered the final test split by just 0.2sec but Carlsson pulled clear to beat the Italian by 7.0sec. Janne Tuohino (Citroen) was on course for fifth but stopped less than 1km from the finish of the last stage allowing Thomas Rådström to move up.

Other major retirements included Mattias Ekström (Skoda), who crashed out of fifth on the opening stage, and team-mate Andreas Aigner who retired with engine problems.

Petter Solberg's (Subaru) troubles continued when he dropped more than eight minutes on the penultimate stage after stalling at the start. A faulty starter motor delayed his restart. He finished but was excluded for not clearing the start control in time.

And just for the record

The winningest marque in WRC history is still Lancia with 73 wins, miles ahead of Ford’s 50 wins with Peugeot (48), Subaru (44) Toyota (43), Mitsubishi (34), Citroen (26), Audi (24) and Fizt 21 all in close attendamce. The final spot on the all-time top-ten goes to Renault with its famous Alpine (12).

Next round

Teams make their first long-haul journey of the year next month for the season's first gravel event. The Rally Mexico is based in Leon on 2 - 6 March.

Final positions

1. M Grönholm (Fin) / T Rautiainen (Fin) : Ford Focus RS 3hr 09min 01.9sec 2. S Loeb (Fra) / D Elena (Mon) : Citroen Xsara +0:30.9 3. D Carlsson (Swe) / B Holmstrand (Swe) : Mitsubishi Lancer +2:56.8 4. G Galli (Ita) / G Bernacchini (Ita) : Mitsubishi Lancer +3:03.8 5. T Rådström (Swe) / J Skallman (Swe) : Subaru Impreza +5:53.3 6. K Katajamäki (Fin) / T Alane (Fin) : Ford Focus RS +7:34.8 7. X Pons (Esp) / C Del Barrio (Esp) : Citroen Xsara +8:35.6 8. H Solberg (Nor) / C Menkerud (Nor) : Peugeot 307 +9:01.5

FIA World Rally Drivers Championship (after round 2 of 16)

1. M Grönholm 20pts 2. S Loeb 16pts 3= T Gardemeister 6pts 3= D Carlsson 6pts 5= M Stohl 5pts 5= G Galli 5pts

FIA World Rally Manufacturers Championship (after round 2 of 16)

1. Ford 26pts 2. Kronos Citroen 24pts 3. OMV - Peugeot Norway 10pts 4. Subaru 8pts 5. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford 7pts 6. Red-Bull Skoda 3pts