Grönholm takes his fifth career win in Rally of Sweden

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Like a winning racehorse, Marcus Grönholm received a garland around his neck upon taking his fifth victory in the Swedish Rally, which this time culminated at the Färjestad trotting track.
      In the end, the Finnish Ford pilot beat his current greatest rival, Sebastien Loeb (Citroën) of France by 53.8 seconds. Grönholm's team-mate and fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen grabbed third place, while yet anther Finn Toni Gardemeister (Mitsubishi) completed the Nordic success by coming home sixth.
      Grönholm has the second most victories in the Rally of Sweden. Ahead of him is only the legendary Swedish rally ace Stig Blomqvist, who capped the event no less than seven times.
      "Possibly the last one, don't know yet", Grönholm, 39, replied when he was asked if this was his last race in Sweden.
     
Grönholm took his second consecutive Swedish Rally title in exhibition style. The Finn clocked the fastest times on 11 of the 20 special stages of the rally, which was raced in bitterly cold weather. At times the temperature dropped well below the -20°C mark.
      "Even the car was shivering with cold", Grönholm laughed, although the Ford mechanics were not smiling when one of the stable's second-string cars - driven by Jari-Matti Latvala and Malcolm Wilson - succumbed to the cold on Sunday morning. Hurried adjustments were made to Grönholm's and Hirvonen's cars.
      The battle for the 2007 World Championship between Loeb and Grönholm is expected to be fierce. "It's going to be a long season", sighed Grönholm, who will face his fourth race in five weeks next week.
      "I can only hope that this time Loeb will take out his mountain bike earlier on in the season", Grönholm joked, referring to his rival's mountain biking accident last autumn. Due to the accident and a subsequent shoulder operation Loeb was unable to take part in the last four races of the season, during which time Grönholm managed to whittle down the Frenchman's lead to just one point.
      The Sunday win was Grönholm's 26th in his career, which ties him with the Spaniard Carlos Sainz for World Rally Championships race victories. Ahead of the two is Loeb, 32, with 29 number one positions.


Links:
  World Rally Championship Swedish Rally

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