Mikko Hirvonen starts 2010 with a victory in Sweden

Driving his Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen claimed victory in the first WRC rally of the season, starting in the best way his World Rally Championship title bid. Hirvonen beat Citroën’s Sebastien Loeb, Jari-Matti Latvala claimed third pace.

At the end of the Swedish Rally Hirvonen was delighted to finish on top in the season debut, after a very difficult weekend.

"It was a big win for us and I want many more this season.  It's the first time I've won the opening round of the year.  I tried to be more aggressive from the start in all aspects of my performance.  It was a brave decision yesterday to change the tyres when I did but it paid off and those kind of decisions make the difference between winning and losing.”

The 2009 World Champion Sebastien Loeb had to settle for second place, admitting that the Finn was the strongest driver in the ice-bound Scandinavian forests.

"It's been a very tough weekend and Mikko has done a perfect rally," Loeb said. "I made a little mistake yesterday, but even without this mistake I don't know [if we could have won] because we were unable to beat Mikko in the stages. He was really strong, he deserves this victory."

Another Finn was also the center of attentions. Converted Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen’s had problems in its premiere with Citroën Junior Team. The Finn had problems in the first stages and couldn’t finish better than 30th.

"Of course we are not happy, we hit the snow bank and we got stuck on the first day," Raikkonen said. "But we improved a lot and we got here. It was definitely not an easy rally to start with. But I got more experience with the car and the notes."

The WRC now heads to Mexico with the first of four rounds outside Europe taking place in León on 4-7 March.