Marcus Gronholm and Ford have won the first two races of the 2006 WRC season. Sunday was Marcus's 38th birthday and he celebrated it with a victory at the Swedish Rally. Fords impressive sweep of the first two races bodes well for the rest of the season.

Ford has two teams competing in WRC. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished 12th giving Ford the lead in manufacturer's points. Both teams overcame mechanical problems. Marcus's Focus suffered from a hydraulic leak that disabled the active center differential and required manual gear changes until the leak was repaired. Mikko's car suffered from over heating problems.

Marcus did not expect to win this race. "No, I didn't expect to win. It's a new car, it's a fantastic result. I thought I could win before the last stage, not earlier. Everything is possible. We had our problems this morning. I was expecting Sebastien would 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."

Ford's first World Rally victory came in 1973 by Timo Makinen in the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland.

Rally Mexico March 3-5 is the next race on the WRC schedule.

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