`I was expecting Sebastien will be closer`
Despite leading throughout, Marcus Gronholm admits that it was a surprise that he took the Swedish Rally victory from Sebastien Loeb yesterday in his new Ford Focus.
"I didn`t expect to win. It`s a new car, it`s a fantastic result," Gronholm said in the post Rally press conference. "I thought I could win before the last stage, not earlier. Everything is possible. We had our problems this morning. I was expecting Sebastien will be closer but I knew it would be a good fight here, I was sure about that. Petter had so many troubles in this rally, he couldn`t show his speed. We have to wait for Mexico to see what he can do."

Sebastien Loeb finished in a fighting second position in his Kronos Citroen.

"I prefer to win than be second," Loeb said. "Here in Sweden I knew Marcus would be very fast, he was the fastest all weekend. On the first day we dropped a bit of time with the penalty, we tried to come back, sometimes we got some time, but mostly he was faster. I tried my best."

"Three stages from the end I tried a different tyre, using the same as him. I knew it would not be enough. I have to admit he was faster. I don`t know about the domination. I know Marcus, with the Ford, will be competitive. I hope we fight and I`m sure we can, but it won`t be the same as the championship last year."

Gronholm took the victory by half a minute, repeating the result of the Monte Carlo Rally and extending his championship lead from two points to four over Loeb.

Tags: rally,