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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Gardemeister Fourth in Argentina after Thrilling Final Day

Staff, Tuesday July 19, 2005.

Page 1 of 1

Gardemeister extended his consistent run which has seen his Castrol-branded Focus RS finish in the points on all nine rounds this season. He is one of only two drivers to achieve this feat and now lies fourth in the points standings. Ford remains third in the manufacturers' series.

BP-Ford team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Mo?ný finished 11th in their similar Focus RS on their Argentine debut. Privately-entered drivers Antony Warmbold and Michael Orr and Luis Perez Companc and Jose Maria Volta finished 12th and 14th respectively, ensuring that all four Focus RS cars completed the tough four-day event, which comprised 340.82km of competition.

Freezing temperatures and roadside snow in the Traslasierra mountains, west of the rally base in Villa Carlos Paz, made conditions treacherous this morning. Temperatures were down to -3°C as competitors headed into the moonlike mountain landscape for two of the toughest and most famous speed tests in the entire championship. Two passes over the rocky roads of El Condor and one run through the equally gruelling Giulio Cèsare lay in wait.

Thirty-year-old Gardemeister fought for seconds with Rovanperä from Thursday evening's start. He began today's final leg 11.0sec ahead of his rival. However, Rovanperä sliced that to 5.9sec through the first 16.82km El Condor special stage. Gardemeister retaliated to set fastest time in the 24.45km Giulio Cèsare and the pair were split by 0.5sec on the repeat of El Condor.

As the drivers returned to the Pro-Racing motorsport complex for the final two short speed tests, Gardemeister held a 7.8sec advantage. Those final two stages, held in glorious sunshine in front of a capacity 40,000 crowd and broadcast live on television across South America and Europe, saw two drivers at a time race head-to-head around a purpose-built gravel track. The BP-Ford driver controlled his pace superbly to hold off Rovanperä.

"It was a difficult day, in fact it was a very difficult rally," said Gardemeister. "The roads this morning were icy but I had no choice other than to drive flat out to try to keep Harri behind me. The road surface changed from dry to wet to icy and it's hard to drive in constantly changing conditions. I set fastest time in the longest stage but we had a few lucky escapes in there.

"The weekend has been good, although I would have liked to be on the podium. If conditions had remained as dry as they were during the recce period then I think that would have been possible. But fourth is a good, solid result and that's my ninth consecutive points finish with the Focus RS this season which is good, reliable form," he added.

Kresta started the final day in 10th in his Focus RS but the icy conditions caught out the 29-year-old Czech. "I went off the road once and slid wide twice in the Giulio Cèsare stage and lost more than 20 seconds," he said. "The stage was very difficult and as slippery as hell." With no opportunity to regain the lost time, Kresta took no risks through the final stages to finish 11th.

"My feeling with the car wasn't perfect today. Some of my stages times this weekend were good and others weren't. The car has performed well but I'm not happy with my result, although maybe for my first time here it's not so bad," added Kresta.

BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson was delighted that Gardemeister came out on top in his personal battle. "This was a great performance from Toni bearing in mind that he didn't do the rally last year. I'm pleased he has kept his points scoring run intact and this result should give him extra confidence going into his home event in Finland next month. It has kept the team in a strong position in the manufacturers' championship," he said.

News from our Rivals

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) claimed his sixth successive victory to equal the record for the most wins in a season set by fellow countryman Didier Auriol in 1992. However, Auriol's victories were not consecutive. Loeb eased through the final day to win by 26.1sec from Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) with Petter Solberg (Subaru) completing the podium. Behind Gardemeister and Rovanperä (Mitsubishi), Markko Märtin (Peugeot) completed the top six while François Duval (Citroen) marked his return to the series with seventh. Ninth for Chris Atkinson (Subaru) was enough to earn his team the final manufacturers' point.

Next round

The championship returns to Europe for the most spectacular rally of the year. The Rally Finland, characterised by roller-coaster roads and huge jumps, is based in Jyväskylä on 4 - 7 August.

Final positions
1. S Loeb (Fra) /D Elena (Mon) - Citroen Xsara 3hr 55min 36.4sec
2. M Grönholm (Fin) / T Rautiainen (Fin) - Peugeot 307 +0:26.1
3. P Solberg (Nor) / P Mills (GB) - Subaru Impreza +1:05.3
4. T Gardemeister (Fin) / J Honkanen (Fin) - Ford Focus RS +2:38.0
5. H Rovanperä (Fin) / R Pietilainen (Fin) - Mitsubishi Lancer +2:43.6
6. M Märtin (Est) / M Park (GB) - Peugeot 307 +4:22.2
7. F Duval (Bel) / S Smeets (Bel) - Citroen Xsara +5:29.1
8. M Stohl (Aut) / I Minor (Aut) - Citroen Xsara +5:42.9

FIA World Rally Championship (after round 9 of 16)
Drivers
1. S Loeb 75pts
2. P Solberg 48pts
3. M Grönholm 45pts
4. T Gardemeister 44pts
5. M Märtin 42pts
6. H Rovanperä 20pts
9. R Kresta 10pts

Manufacturers
1. Citroen 96pts
2. Peugeot 90pts
3. Ford 62pts
4. Subaru 54pts
5. Mitsubishi 41pts
6. Skoda 8pts

Ford nominates Mikko Hirvonen for Rally Finland

Ford has named Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen as nominated drivers for next month's Rally Finland. The Finns will drive an M-Sport prepared 2005-specification Ford Focus RS World Rally Car on their home event, tenth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. They will join BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen as Ford's nominated points scorers.

Gardemeister's BP-Ford team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Mo?ný will drive a 2003-specification BP Ultimate-branded Focus RS. They will be eligible for drivers' points but will not score for the manufacturers' series.

BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson and Ford took the decision following Hirvonen's outstanding performance on the Acropolis Rally of Greece. He led the rally on the opening leg in a 2003-specification car and maintained his pace throughout to finish fifth. It is the perfect birthday present for Hirvonen who is 25 on July 31, two days before the recce for the rally begins.

Hirvonen, who lives in the Rally Finland's home town of Jyväskylä, drove a works-supported Focus RS World Rally Car on all 14 rounds of the 2003 championship. His best result was sixth in Cyprus and he contributed to Ford's record-breaking run of 52 consecutive points finishes.

"Mikko has shown excellent speed on both the Rally Italia Sardinia and the Acropolis Rally of Greece in a car that is two years old," said Wilson. "The Rally Finland is the most specialised event in the world championship and it takes several years' experience of the roads there before a driver can hope to be truly competitive. Mikko grew up on Finnish roads and the combination of his understanding of the nature of the stages and his speed means he deserves his chance.

"This move will also help Roman come to terms with a rally that is new to him. He can discover the characteristics of the Finnish roads at his own pace without having to worry about pushing to score points for Ford. He has shown this season that he is a quick learner and by removing the pressure from him in this way, he can concentrate fully on gaining as much experience as possible."

Hirvonen added: "This is fantastic news and a huge vote of confidence for me. I am totally committed to getting the very best possible result for Ford and, personally for Malcolm. Returning to the Ford team means I will be working with old friends so there will be no problems in settling in. I haven't driven the 2005-specification Focus RS before but I will have a day's testing in Finland before the rally to enable me to get used to it."

For further information contact:
Mark Wilford
Media Coordinator
Ford Rallye Sport
Phone: +54 351 422 0774
Mobile: +44 7770 756214
Email: mwilford@ford.com

Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing Australia
Phone: 03 9359 8190
Mobile: 0417 262 753
Email: bbeazle3@ford.com

Further information and high-resolution images relating to Ford Racing Australia can also be found at : media.ford.com

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