Grönholm wins in Wales to claim record number of WRC victories

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Marcus Grönholm became the Finn with the greatest number of World Rally Championship race victories to his name, when he took his 25th career win in Cardiff on Sunday.
      The all-time second-best Finn, Tommi Mäkinen, topped the podium 24 times in his career.
      Ford pilot Grönholm, together with his navigator Timo Rautiainen, dominated the Wales Rally of Great Britain from beginning to end on the muddy and slippery gravel roads of Southern Wales.
     
"It was a solid race without problems of any kind. It is great to finish the season with a victory", Grönholm stated matter-of-factly.
      For Ford, yesterday's victory was somewhat historic as 27 years have passed since the team's previous win in Rally GB. In 1979 Finland's Hannu Mikkola took the race in his Ford Escort.
      Grönholm has won the Rally GB title once before, in 2001, but in a different team.
      Second place in this year's Wales Rally went to Austria's Manfred Stohl (Peugeot), who came in 1 minute 35 seconds behind Grönholm. Norwegian Peugeot pilot Petter Solberg, who finished the season without any wins, came in third, with 1 minute 55 seconds separating him from the winner.
     
For Grönholm yesterday's victory was the seventh this year, a personal record for wins in one season.
      Still, he fell one point short to claim the overall title, which went to Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Citroën) for the third year in a row. Loeb had effectively wrapped matters up some time ago, before injuring himself in a mountain biking accident and missing the final races.


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