00:03Sebastian Auger has crashed on the power state!
00:05Oh my word!
00:08Sweden's snow banks damaged the hopes of Britain's Richard Burns and Colin McRae on day one.
00:13With the help from spectators, both restarted.
00:17But the time lost embedded in the snow ended their chances at victory.
00:25The star of Sweden was Finland's Harry Robbenperer.
00:28He put his Peugeot into pole position on day two.
00:31But had to contend with pressure from his friend and foe, Tommy Makinen in the Mitsubishi.
00:38But rather than settle for second, Makinen decided to go for it.
00:46And promptly threw it all away.
00:49Leaving Robbenperer to score his maiden world rally win.
01:01Twelve years since he drove his first rally and he finally won a world rally.
01:06How does it feel you've won the Swedish rally?
01:08That is a fantastic feeling.
01:10It's the first time with the best team and the best result.
01:18Leading the rally was Filip Bogalski in the Formula 2 Citroen.
01:23Equal on power and 200 kilos lighter, the car is designed to run only on tarmac.
01:28The rules had created an anomaly, with the non-eligible Citroen firmly leading the championship round.
01:35They have much lighter cars, same power.
01:39When winning the overall classification, everybody must be under the same rules.
01:44It was the first time that a Formula 2 car had won a world championship round ahead of the series regulars.
01:49I am very, very happy.
01:52For Citroen, it's a good day.
01:56And for Filip Bogalski, it's a good, good day.
02:03Yet another twist.
02:04By the 20km split time, Sordo had fought back.
02:08With their stage times dead level, Neuville remains three seconds behind overall.
02:14It is now or never in the final five kilometres.
02:19But he's lost it.
02:20Well, that could be it now.
02:23These incredible drivers were on the absolute limit and something had to give.
02:28Unfortunately for Thierry, it seems he blinked first.
02:31And Sordo probably won't know it yet, but a first WRC victory of his career could be his already.
02:37This has been a composed, controlled performance from a 30-year-old Spanian.
02:43And that is it.
02:45Finally, Danny can call himself a WRC winner.
02:48Incredible scenes.
02:50A big hug from Dad, Danny Sordo.
02:53Rally Deutschland winner 2013.
02:55Danny, it's been 14 third places, 22nd places, and now that very first WRC victory.
03:02A really, really great moment was close with Neuville because he's pushing really hard.
03:05First splits is a little bit slow, but after was faster, so it takes the time, so I need to push really quickly and hard.
03:16But it's really good.
03:17Italy's Piero Liatti had come close to winning his first World Championship rally in Spain two months before, and he was driving the second of the new Subaru Impreza World Rally cars.
03:28He and co-driver Fabrizio Fons were quickly on the pace.
03:31Next came Liatti.
03:34He seemed slower, more controlled, yet he was faster by an incredible 38 seconds.
03:46Makinen set out to regain the lead from Liatti.
03:48But on the next stage, it was the world champion's turn to experience the sickening sound of metal striking rock.
03:57So victory went to one of the most popular drivers in the championship.
04:01It's been a long wait, but the steady, reliable Italian's patience has finally been rewarded.
04:06It's a well-deserved win, which delighted everyone.
04:09Fantastic.
04:11This moment for me is very, very, very fantastic.
04:18I think this is going to push Chris Mick down in the third and put Jerry Magdalena down in the second.
04:22Oh, this is definitely more.
04:24This is faster than 7.55.
04:25Surely the end of the stage is there.
04:29It's 7.51 point now.
04:30It is a wowzer.
04:31What a stage time.
04:33And Ole Fleur on the left there shakes Andreas Mikkelsen's hands and says,
04:37Son, I think you've just gone and done it.
04:41Oh, this is, who is this?
04:43That is Sebastian Auger.
04:44Sebastian Auger has crashed on the power stage.
04:46Oh, wait.
04:47Oh, my word.
04:48Now, hang on a second.
04:50What does this mean?
04:51This means Mikkelsen has won the event.
04:54Auger has crashed in the power stage.
04:56You are the winner.
04:58Is he going on?
04:59He's crashed.
05:00I've been told he's crashed.
05:02He's still stopped.
05:03You've beaten Lapvalet.
05:04If O'Shea does not get here, he is in the barrier.
05:07He's taken a wheel off, I'm being told.
05:09He's taken a wheel off.
05:11You have won your first ever world rally.
05:15Can we have a look and see where it happened?
05:17This is where it happened.
05:18What does he do, Lewis?
05:20Too fast.
05:21He went too fast.
05:23Too fast into that left hand and he understood.
05:25This is it from the helicopter shot.
05:27It hasn't gone.
05:28I haven't realized it yet, to be honest.
05:29We just gave it everything in the last stage.
05:31And yeah, it was enough to beat Lapvalet.
05:33We had more or less a perfect drive.
05:35And to be acknowledged with a win, it's just incredible.
05:38We fought hard today.
05:40Mikkel Heervenen was dominating at the front
05:41and went on to win the rally.
05:43But was later excluded for clutch and turbo irregularities.
05:47Yes, we homologated a new clutch in January this year.
05:50And on the clutch we had on the car, the holes were not there.
05:53It was a mistake from our supplier.
05:56All of this meant that it was Norway's Mads Osberg
05:58who took the win in Portugal.
05:59His first ever WRC victory.
06:01A fantastic drive from the Norwegian
06:03in conditions so difficult
06:05they've caught out the factory team drivers
06:07and caused stages to be cancelled.
06:09The feeling of a victory is definitely not there.
06:11But okay, when we get a bit more time now
06:14it's only said on the papers
06:17and then it's a bit different.
06:19But okay, it doesn't feel like a proper win.
06:22The young Finn, Tommy Mackinnon, had been seen out most recently with Nissan's.
06:28But here he was on his own home ground
06:30behind the wheel of a WRC Ford Sport Cosworth.
06:33A car that he was immediately conversant with
06:35as he moved into the lead after stage two.
06:38Despite winning events both at home and abroad at national level
06:41there was still concern as to whether Mackinnon
06:43could survive in the lead with all the pressure
06:45being applied without making a mistake.
06:47For now the answer appeared to be yes
06:50as Ford and Tommy Mackinnon led the Thousand Lakes Rally
06:53in fine style.
06:54And so a delighted Tommy Mackinnon
06:57won victory on the 1994 Thousand Lakes Rally.
07:00The best, absolutely best event
07:02I've ever been and
07:04at the moment it's biggest, biggest moment in my life.
07:13Marcus Bronholm driving for Peugeot for the last time
07:16was looking like a potential winner
07:18until a loose bolt caused his suspension to collapse.
07:20A disappointing end to Peugeot's involvement in the WRC.
07:24Sebastian Loeb took the lead at the end of day one.
07:28But then the unthinkable happened.
07:35The world champion left it to the last event of the season
07:37to finally make a mistake.
07:39Petr Solberg now assumed the lead.
07:41But his rally would end following a collision with a kangaroo.
07:48But the man with most to celebrate was Francois Duval.
07:512005 had been a difficult year for the Belgian
07:54but he was now experiencing the greatest moment in his career.
07:59His first WRC win.
08:01I'm very happy for the last rally.
08:06First victory.
08:07I'm very happy for Citroën.
08:09Thank you Guy Frecklin.
08:11Thank you Sven.
08:12Good help for the last eight rally.
08:14It's a really good job.
08:16And now I hope I continue next year with Citroën.
08:22When it was announced he was coming we were like
08:24he's coming back again?
08:25How can he be on the pace?
08:27Is he going to be on the pace?
08:28You know when we last saw him he was just kind of
08:31in the fringe of the top three or four.
08:33He comes here, new car, limited testing breaks
08:36because he went to do Dakar.
08:38He's been away for three weeks in Saudi Arabia.
08:40He then went for a test on the Sunday.
08:42And delivers this.
08:44And delivers this.
08:45That's a Loeb win.
08:48His first win since 2018.
08:50The first win for M Sport Ford since 2018.
08:54It marks the 80th WRC win for Sebastian Loeb.
09:00Wow.
09:02Bonjour, I feel really, really happy.
09:04I didn't expect so much when I came here.
09:07So it was a great fight.
09:10I struggled a little bit yesterday.
09:11Even this morning.
09:12But at the end.
09:13Seppolo just wanted to prove that he can still do what he's done.
09:25And I think that goes to show that he's possibly the best WRC driver there ever was.
09:30What are the expectations on what are the orders maybe from the bosses of Toyota?
09:35You at Cancon came to me this morning with a very simple, clear instruction.
09:39He said, try to keep it on the road and then come to the finish.
09:42I'll have some fun, do my best and see how it goes.
09:45Just in a really nice rhythm.
09:47He's comfortable in the car doing what he's got to do.
09:49I don't think Oliver has actually even been pushing completely flat out.
09:535.3 seconds faster than Roven Pera.
09:57Oliver Solberg, welcome back to rally one.
10:00You've just gone 5.3 seconds quicker and taken the rally lead.
10:03What happened to betting yourself in?
10:09Tell us about the stage.
10:10That was some run.
10:13I'm getting emotional.
10:19It's an incredible start.
10:20It's all about keeping that in check, right?
10:22You've got to stay calm in this situation, yeah?
10:24I'm not here to win.
10:26He started on Friday with a surprise stage win.
10:30We all wondered what could be, but I don't think anyone imagined that what would unfold over the last couple of days has unfolded.
10:36He's racked up nine stage wins as Oliver.
10:39It's his first time in the rally one Toyota.
10:42Remember he ran and had frankly a bit of a torrid time with Hyundai, but it's done.
10:47It's done PK.
10:48It's just a couple of corners to go.
10:50Here we go then.
10:51It's unbelievable.
10:52Two and a half years since the last rally one outing.
10:54He stepped in this rally one Toyota and it is a first WRC victory for Oliver Solberg at 23 years old.
11:03It is quite incredible.
11:06Oliver has been around the service park pretty much since he was born.
11:10So the entire service park has watched this kid grow up.
11:13There's no question that young man is ready for a rally one career and I'm sure it's going to be a glittering one.
11:21After everything, you know, there's so many years trying and trying and trying and dreaming.
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