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Hirvonen to start Neste Rally as leader of the WRC Rally series

Mikko Hirvonen’s sixth WRC Rally career win and the second of the current season took the Ford driver back to first place in the WRC series. This was the first time Hirvonen has won the Turkish rally. The victory was secured when Hirvonen managed, after a fierce fight, to keep the competition behind him in the last leg of the race.

- It was quite a fight from start to finish. Our strategy for Friday night was successful, and on Saturday I was able to keep (Sebastien) Loeb far enough behind for Sunday, said Hirvonen as he summed up the race.

Hirvonen and his team mate Jari-Matti Latvala used tactics on Friday night to leave Loeb in the lead and so start as the first car on Saturday.

Hirvonen started Sunday with a sixteen-second lead over Latvala and with a lead of a little more than thirty seconds over Loeb. - Our tyres were completely worn out before the last stage of the race, and we had to practically crawl the last three kilometres, said Hirvonen as he recalled the final leg.

The last leg of the race consisted of a 31-kilometre stage which was driven twice and a five-kilometre stage. Hirvonen was the first car out, managing to keep Latvala second and Loeb third.

- Our engine stalled at the start of the last stage of the day. It cost us seconds but also made us fight even harder. When we nailed that leg, we had the confidence for the last two stages, said Hirvonen, describing his feelings.

Three-point lead

The WRC Rally series will continue at the beginning of August with the Neste Oil Rally. Hirvonen will start the home race with a three-point lead over Loeb. The two drivers have shared the lead throughout the season.

- As leader of the WRC series, I will be the first car out for the first leg in Jyväskylä, but this should not pose any problems. I hope that the roads will be a bit wet. This would tie up the loose gravel, said Hirvonen.

- We are going to Jyväskylä aiming to win. It’s the dream of every Finnish rally driver, and we should now have all the opportunities needed to achieve that dream.

- Before the race we’ll do one three-day test on tarmac and some tests in anticipation of the Neste Rally.