The first WRC event held in Jordan ended this weekend with Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen building on their lead over Dani Sordo and Marc Marti of the Total Citroen World Rally Team when Sordo lost it and spun shortly after the start on the final 41.5 kilometer Jordan River stage. Hirvonen and the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team finished first with a lead of 1 minute, 15.7 seconds for the rally. After five events in 2008 the Finnish team leads the Manufacturers’ Championship points race with 57.

For much of the first two days Spanish Citroen pilot Daniel Sordo, though struggling with the loose gravel for grip, set the pace. His teammate Sebastien Loeb stayed close, even led briefly, before having a close encounter of the destructive kind with Conrad Rautenbach Saturday morning.

The Subaru World Rally Team of Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot, almost 5 minutes back, took 3rd place and were pleased with their third WRC podium in a row. They also occupy third in the Manufacturers’ Championship points with 39 and expect to be even more competitive with a new car.

Jordan proved to be a challenging new venue for the WRC series and the organizers were praised for their preparations and program. After the top three, Hirvonen’s Ford, Sordo’s Citroen and Atkinson’s Subaru, there were hoards of Fords. Henning Solberg in fourth, Matthew Wilson in fifth, FedericoVillagra took sixth followed by Jari-Matti Latvala, Gianluigi Galli, and Khalid Al-Qassimi. Sebastien Loeb was tenth.