Marcus Gronholm received the perfect birthday present today when he held off Sebastien Loeb to win the Swedish Rally and extend his lead in the world championship.

World champion Sebastien Loeb was left cursing a 10-second penalty which allowed Marcus Gronholm to take a slender lead into the second day of the Swedish Rally.

Nineteen year old British driver Matthew Wilson in a Ford Focus is the overnight leader of the Sligo based Rally Ireland.

Sebastien Loeb capped a “perfect season” by clinching the world championship with second place on Rally Japan today.

Ireland launched its bid to host a stage of the World Rally Championship today in what would become the largest annual sporting event held on the island if given the green light.

Petter Solberg got his world championship campaign back on track with victory in the Swedish Rally today as his chief rivals hit trouble.

Reigning world champion Petter Solberg made it four wins from four stages on stage 15 of the Rally Finland.