The BP-Ford World Rally Team crew of Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen survived tricky conditions to win Rally Japan, the 14th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Second position was claimed by the Citroën Total duo of Daniel Sordo and Marc Marti, while Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud (Stobart Ford) took the final podium position, equalling their best result of the season in their debut outing in Japan.

After Marcus Grönholm retired during leg one, the Finn\'s Championship hopes looked to be under serious threat. However, when Sébastien Loeb also went off the road on Saturday and had to re-start on Sunday under SupeRally rules, the Drivers\' Championship table remained unchanged with neither the Finn nor the Frenchman scoring points. So, with two rounds remaining - in Ireland and Great Britain - the rivals remain split by four points, with Grönholm still holding the advantage. Maximum points for Hirvonen secure his third position in the series. In the Manufacturers\' Championship, BP-Ford only managed to extend its points advantage over Citroën Total by two points, leaving it needing just three points to win the series for the second consecutive season.

Today\'s final leg of Rally Japan covered another seven stages and 97.33 competitive kilometres. Running behind Sordo on the road, Hirvonen was able to control the pace from the front. Without the need to push to the maximum, the Finn happily ceded all today\'s stage victories to either Loeb or Sordo, before Loeb retired with engine problems after the penultimate stage. Behind the leading trio, Ford Focus drivers Luis Perez-Companc and Matthew Wilson battled hard for fourth and the Briton ultimately overhauled the Argentine in the penultimate stage to claim the position. Both recorded their best WRC results. Manfred Stohl (Citroën Xsara) rounded off the top six.

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now return to Europe for the penultimate round of the series, Rally Ireland (15-18 November). Crews are expecting tricky conditions on this asphalt event, which is new to the series and could be a decider for both the Drivers\' and Manufacturers\' Championships.