KEY POINTS:
OSLO - Mikko Hirvonen won the Norwegian rally today and fellow-Finn Marcus Gronholm finished second to snatch the world championship lead from France's Sebastian Loeb.
Gronholm was 9.5 seconds adrift on snowy roads in the forests near Hamar, north of Oslo. Norway's Henning Solberg came third, edging out his younger brother Petter (Subaru) to make it a Ford 1-2-3.
Despite winning two of Sunday's four stages in Norway's first fully-fledged world championship rally, Citroen's Loeb failed to make up for time lost the day before when he got stuck in a snow bank on stage 12.
Loeb finished 14th after starting the day 18th as he dropped to third in the championship, six points behind Gronholm (24). Hirvonen jumped into second position on 20.
The 26-year-old Hirvonen did not win a stage on Sunday but fought off Gronholm's strong challenge to preserve the lead he had held since Friday.
"Fantastic rally, absolutely fantastic," Hirvonen said, adding he considered the win more important than his first championship triumph in Australia last year.
"For me this is a real victory. I would say in Australia it came a little bit easy.
"I had such a good weekend (here) and was fighting all the way. I really enjoy it when you need to push hard. Against Sebastian and Marcus, to win is an incredible feeling."
Finn Jari-Matti Latvala was fifth in another Ford while Italy's Gigi Galli in a Citroen was the best non-Nordic driver, in sixth place.
Result
1. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 3hr 28min 17sec
2. Marcus Groenholm (Finland, Ford) +9.5sec
3. Henning Solberg (Norway, Ford) +3min 44sec
4. Petter Solberg (Norway, Subaru) +4:01
5. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) +5:30
6. Gianluigi Galli (Italy, Citroen +7:05
7. Daniel Carlsson (Sweden, Citroen) +9:23 7
8. Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic, Skoda) +11:49
9. Rune Dalsjoe (Norway, Subaru) +13:31
10. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Ford) +14:28 10
- REUTERS
