By WRC
Jari-Matti Latvala held his nerve through Sunday's final five stages to win the 2008 Swedish Rally and collect the first WRC victory of his career.
After a sensational drive in difficult conditions, Latvala finished the event 58sec ahead of his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen who was second.
Latvala, aged just 22, becomes the youngest driver ever to win a WRC rally, a record previously held by the late Henri Toivonen, who was 24 years old when he won the 1980 RAC Rally.
At the finish an emotional Latvala danced on the roof of his Focus WRC: It's a super feeling! It's almost unbelievable!" said Latvala. "Henri [Toivonen] was one of my idols and secretly I've always wanted to beat his record as the youngest winner.
"The rally started so well from the first stage. We've made no mistakes, the car has been absolutely perfect and I've been able to control the speed - I'm really happy about that. I feel very comfortable now, this result has given me a lot of self confidence and I'm really looking forward to Mexico," he added.
The result was a spectacular success for Ford, who filled all three podium places with Latvala, Hirvonen and Stobart driver Gigi Galli, and took four of the top five positions as Ramsport's Andreas Mikkelsen claimed fifth behind Petter Solberg (Subaru).
Leading finishers:
Pos Driver Make Time
1. Latvala Ford 2h46:41.2
2. Hirvonen Ford + 58.3
3. Galli Ford + 2:23.2
4. P Solberg Subaru + 2:59.4
5. Mikkelsen Ford + 5:46.0
6. Sordo Citroen + 7:13.1
7. Gardemeister Suzuki + 10:35.3
8. Hanninen Mitsubishi + 12:27.5
9. Ostberg Subaru + 13:28.5
10. Ketomaa Subaru + 13:50.7
Jari-Matti Latvala held his nerve through Sunday's final five stages to win the 2008 Swedish Rally and collect the first WRC victory of his career.
After a sensational drive in difficult conditions, Latvala finished the event 58sec ahead of his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen who was second.
Latvala, aged just 22, becomes the youngest driver ever to win a WRC rally, a record previously held by the late Henri Toivonen, who was 24 years old when he won the 1980 RAC Rally.
At the finish an emotional Latvala danced on the roof of his Focus WRC: It's a super feeling! It's almost unbelievable!" said Latvala. "Henri [Toivonen] was one of my idols and secretly I've always wanted to beat his record as the youngest winner.
"The rally started so well from the first stage. We've made no mistakes, the car has been absolutely perfect and I've been able to control the speed - I'm really happy about that. I feel very comfortable now, this result has given me a lot of self confidence and I'm really looking forward to Mexico," he added.
The result was a spectacular success for Ford, who filled all three podium places with Latvala, Hirvonen and Stobart driver Gigi Galli, and took four of the top five positions as Ramsport's Andreas Mikkelsen claimed fifth behind Petter Solberg (Subaru).
Leading finishers:
Pos Driver Make Time
1. Latvala Ford 2h46:41.2
2. Hirvonen Ford + 58.3
3. Galli Ford + 2:23.2
4. P Solberg Subaru + 2:59.4
5. Mikkelsen Ford + 5:46.0
6. Sordo Citroen + 7:13.1
7. Gardemeister Suzuki + 10:35.3
8. Hanninen Mitsubishi + 12:27.5
9. Ostberg Subaru + 13:28.5
10. Ketomaa Subaru + 13:50.7