Citroen Admits Hirvonen Superiority in Sweden

Echoing the words of their No 1 driver Sebastien Loeb, French manufacturer Citroen also admitted that Mikko Hirvonen was unbeatable during last weekend's Rally Sweden. Team boss Olivier Quesnel revealed that both him and Loeb decided to ease the pace from second place in the dying stages of the rally, as it was pretty clear the Finn would not give up his leading position until the finish line.

Just like Loeb, Quesnel insisted that Citroen was not a favorite in the opening round of the season, as Scandinavian drivers easily held the upper hand over his drivers in Sweden. And the recent results recorded in the event were sole proof of that.

“This is the beginning of the season and for the last many years there has been only one non-Scandinavian who has won and that is Seb [in 2004] and then he had good fortune. We can't win all the time, everywhere. We try, we push, but Mikko was better than us. What can I say?” said Quesnel.

“Mikko has been the better driver and he deserves this. We pushed a lot on Sunday morning but when we could see after 20km we made only a small amount of time (back on Hirvonen) and we understood it would not be enough to catch, so we decided the best way would be to stay where we are,” added the French official.

While admitting the same thing a few days ago, Loeb himself swore revenge over his Ford rival in the upcoming event of the 2010 WRC schedule, namely Rally Mexico. The Frenchman is yet to be defeated in Mexico in the last 3 editions of the rally, while Hirvonen scored a single podium in the event throughout his entire career, back in 2007.