The Finnish pairing of Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen started their 2010 WRC campaign by winning the opening round 42.3sec ahead of arch rival Sebastien Loeb. The win, Hirvonen's 12th, moved Ford level with Lancia at the top of the all-time manufacturer wins table on 74 WRC victories apiece.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished third in a similar Focus RS WRC, 1min 15.4sec behind their fellow Finns. The double podium gives the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team a 10-point lead at the top of the manufacturers' standings after the first of 13 rounds.

Reflecting on the weekend, Wilson felt Hirvonen had reached a new level as a driver, which would carry over to the next round in Mexico. "I believe yesterday was his best ever single day performance," said Wilson. "Not just because of the speed and way he pulled ahead of Sebastien, but also his approach to the whole day and the way he managed his tyres so he could extend his lead.

"He is putting his experience to good use. He has progressed steadily over the years to the point that he is now beating the world's best driver. For sure he will draw a lot of confidence from this event, as he did with the win in Monte Carlo with the Fiesta, this result puts him in a very good place going to Mexico."

Wilson also paid tribute to his team's number two driver. "Jari-Matti played the perfect support role to Mikko and I could not have imagined a better start to the season," he said. "His target was to stay ahead of Dani Sordo and he put enough pressure on him yesterday to force a mistake and get enough of a cushion to get through today smoothly.

Ford of Europe motorsport chief Gerard Quinn added: "It was important to get out of the starting blocks quickly this year and that's exactly what we achieved with a thoroughly professional performance from the whole team in the most arduous working conditions. We lead both championships and this victory puts Ford within one win of becoming the sport's most successful manufacturer."

In the league of stage wins, Loeb won seven, Hirvonen six, Latvala five and Sordo, Grohholm and Prokop one each.

* Former Junior-WRC winner P-G Andersson held his nerve through Sunday's final stages to seal a dominant victory in the inaugural S-WRC event on his home round of the WRC.

His victory – in a Skoda Fabia - was the first in the FIA's new competition for four-wheel drive normally aspirated Super 2000 cars - the vehicles on which the 2011 World Rally Championship will be based.

Spurred on by crowds of supporters, Andersson, who won the J-WRC titles in 2004 and 2007, disappeared into the lead on Friday's opening stage and stayed there for the rest of the rally, taking nine consecutive stage wins along the way.

Andersson and co-driver Anders Fredriksson topped the finish podium in Karlstad 57.3seconds ahead of second placed Janne Tuohino (Finland) and tenth in the overall classification, ahead of many drivers in World Rally Cars.

* Swedish driver Patrik Flodin took a comfortable win in the Production Car category of Rally Sweden in his Subaru Impreza and hopes this performance will lead to a full season in the P-WRC this year.

Flodin was a guest entry in the opening round of the Production Championship, and finished 1min 13.1sec ahead of Norwegian Anders Grondal, also in a Subaru.

Defending P-WRC champion Armindo Araujo was third in his Mitsubishi Lancer, 3min 51.8sec behind Grondal.
Highest-placed British team were Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin in seventh place with their Stobart Focus two places ahead of Welshman Phil Mills, co-driving for Norway’s Petter Solberg.

Tony Jardine and Tom Cary (Subaru) were 36th overall, three places ahead of Eamonn Boland/MJ Morrissey (Mitsubishi). Youngster Harry Hunt, guided by the experienced Seb Marshall brought his Fiesta R2 home in 43rd place.