RALLYINGBy Amanda Little

Last updated 11:50, Monday, 13 October 2008

THE Cumbria-based Ford World Rally team finished second and third on Rallye de France in Corsica.

Mikko Hirvonen claimed second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, arriving at the Ajaccio finish 6.9sec ahead of team-mate François Duval.

Hirvonen and Duval tussled for second and third for the opening two days, with the gap never greater than six seconds.

However, when Hirvonen hit a pothole and had to stop to change a tyre on the opening speed test, the top of the leaderboard was turned on its head.

The 28-year-old Finn slipped to fifth behind the Focus RS WRC duo of Duval and Jari-Matti Latvala and also Petter Solberg.

When Solberg punctured on the next stage, Hirvonen climbed to fourth and the team was able to activate a plan to keep alive the title hopes of both Ford and Hirvonen.

Duval deliberately checked into the start of the final special stage early to incur a two-minute penalty while Latvala intentionally clocked in late to pick up a 90sec penalty. It allowed Hirvonen to move back into second. The extra points gained leave him 14 points from the lead with two rounds remaining, while second-placed BP Ford Abu Dhabi closed the gap to 23 points in the title race.

Citroen’s Sébastien Loeb led from start to finish to claim his second victory in consecutive weekends and his fifth in a row.

Cumbrian Matthew Wilson, the 21-year-old son of Ford team director Malcolm Wilson, finished eighth for the Stobart Motorsport team.

Wilson's result now sees his 2008 Driver Championship tally move to 13 which is morepoints than his totalcareer tally prior to this year.