Gronholm secures victory - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Gronholm secures victory

Marcus Gronholm retained leadership of the World Rally Championship with his fifth Rally New Zealand win.

The Finn won the New Zealand leg of the WRC by less than a second over world champion Sebastian Loeb.

Gronholm took the honours only in the 18th and final leg of the contest, hauling back Loeb's 1.7 second lead at the start of the final day to win out by just 0.3secs.

Mikko Hirvonen was third, 1:42 adrift, while Subaru's Australian driver Chris Atkinson pipped another Finn, Jari-Matti Latvala, to fourth.

A fifth win on this year's WRC calendar improves Gronholm's points haul to 90 while Loeb improves to 80 ahead of October's 12th leg in Spain.

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