Jari-Matti Latvala, in his Ford Fiesta Works car, claimed the Swedish Rally last weekend.
Latvala enjoyed a 30-second advantage over Mikko Hirvonen during the last stage, but tyre wear cost him an even bigger lead. Although it was hampering his progress, Hirvonen also with tyre trouble could not close the gap leaving Latvala to take out the power stage by 16.6 seconds.
While both Ford Fiesta Works cars suffered tyre damage, Latvala came out the best while Petter Solberg missed out on a podium finish to Norwegian Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta RS). Evgeny Novikov in another Ford Fiesta did enough to keep in front of Loeb towards the end of the special stage and finish fifth while Sebastien Loeb finished in sixth spot and still leads the championship points table.