''I rate this higher than Australia''From the very special stage on Rally Norway Mikko Hirvonen stamped his authority on last weekend's third round of the World Rally Championship.
Loten 1 saw the BP Ford driver pull out an 11.2 second advantage from the outset and
come Sunday afternoon he recorded his second career victory over
Marcus Gronholm by 9.5 seconds.
Hirvonen recorded his first WRC win last year in Australia, but beating Gronholm and
Sebastien Loeb fair and square in Norway made this win a bit more special.
"Well of course I feel absolutely fantastic," said Hirvonen. "Like you say, I rate this higher than Australia. Sébastien and Marcus are the fastest in the world and now I have beaten them."
"(Sunday) was a bit difficult, but the rest was good; there was a good rhythm. It's not easy, but when you have a good rhythm you just enjoy it. Maybe the rally being new did help a little bit, but before the rally I didn't expect it to make any difference. Everybody has experience of pace notes. I think the pressure was Friday and Saturday. Sébastien and Marcus pushed as hard as they can, but everything just worked perfectly for me.
"
Hirvonen's performance over the rally was however no surprise to team-mate Gronholm.
"I know he is quick and he had a good start on the first stage. Then he kept the same speed and we were just losing all of the time a little bit," Gronholm explained. "It was a good rally for Mikko. I don't exactly know why (we weren't quicker); I don't have any ideas. It's a new rally like you mentioned, maybe it was that. I was never 100 per cent confident with the notes and driving."
"I was not in the attacking mood. I was in the safe side a little bit, all the credit to Mikko, though. Okay, it's good to have the lead, and now we move on to gravel and see what happens there. Let's see what Sébastien is doing with the new car. We have to wait and see..."
Source FIA
