Tyre Selection Gamble Leaves Loeb Adrift in WRC Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen won the Rally of Sweden stage of the World Rally Championship, after his nearest rival and 2009 champion Sebastien Loeb chose to hold onto his worn tyres at stage 14. Hirvonen changed the Pirelli tyres on his Ford and opened up a 6.2-second gap, finally ending the second day 16 seconds ahead of Loeb, whose change to new front tyres at the next stage saw his challenge effectively ended: “Having new tyres at the front and destroyed ones at the rear was worse than have four destroyed ones,” he said. The margin widened during the latter stages of the third day, allowing the Finn to claim victory for BPFord AbuDhabi WRT.

“It’s absolutely fantastic and I’m really happy it’s over after those last few stages; you can’t imagine how nervous I was in there,” Hironven told wrc.com. “It’s a perfect start to my year, I’ve never won the first round before, but after last season I’ve got one more year of experience. Now I plan to carry on like this. It’s a new game in Mexico and I can’t wait to get started again.”