Ford's Jari Matti Latvala has claimed his first win of the season after a mature drive in Sweden. The Finn stormed to the lead of the rally on the first day of the event and was never headed from then on. Citroen's Mikko Hirvonen provided a challenge to his ex team mate, but had to settle for second place. Mads Ostberg benefited from a late puncture for Petter Solberg to move above his compatriot onto the final step of the podium Evgeny Novikov takes another fifth place, […]

Jari Matti Latvala is edging towards his first win of the season after extending his lead on a relatively uneventful day in Sweden. With just six stages remaining on Sunday, Latvala leads Citroen's Mikko Hirvonen by 23 seconds. Petter Solberg, a further 28 seconds behind, completes the podium positions. Mads Ostberg continues his typically strong pace in the snowy conditions as he lies fourth, a mere 11 seconds behind the 2003 champion. Evgeny Novikov still holds 5th, 44.4s ahead of Sebastien Loeb. The Frenchman suffered […]

Jari Matti Latvala powered ahead on the opening day of Rally Sweden after a commanding performance in the afternoon bunch of stages. Latvala had been embroiled in a close fight all day with ex team-mate Mikko Hirvonen although the former dealt with high tyre wear better than his rivals to move seventeen seconds clear with just a superspecial stage left remaining today. Behind the two Finns are two Norwegians, Petter Solberg and Mads Ostberg. Solberg has closed to within 3 seconds of Hirvonen and will look […]

2009 WRC runner-up Mikko Hirvonen kicked off the new era of the championship in style with a thrilling win in Sweden. It was a Ford 1-2-3 as Mads Ostberg, driving for Stobart Ford, put in a stunning drive to finish within touching distance of Hirvonen, and ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala

Mikko Hirvonen will go into the final day of the opening round of the championship in Sweden in the lead, but the top 5 is covered by a mere 15 seconds. Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg struggled this afternoon as the stages had been used by Swedish entrants since the first running of the stages.

Stobart Ford driver Mads Ostberg leads after the first day of the 2011 championship in Sweden.
Ostberg had led by over half a minute, but his lead is now less than half of that after suffering from a visibility issue.

With the opening round of the season just three weeks away, here is the provisional line-up for the 2011 Swedish Rally