Hirvonen's win enabled BP-Ford to increase its lead in the manufacturers' championship to 34 points. A maximum 36 points are available from the final two rounds in Ireland and Great Britain.

Based in Obihiro on Japan's most northerly island of Hokkaido, the rally was characterised by fast but narrow gravel roads through natural forests in hills north of the city. Fog and ice on the opening morning made conditions tricky and heavy rain overnight on Friday made the tracks treacherously slippery yesterday. Glorious early-winter sunshine shone down on the drivers today during the final seven speed tests covering 97.33km. In total, competitors tackled 27 special stages over 350.19km.

Hirvonen took the lead during the opening afternoon. He extended his advantage as closest rivals Sébastien Loeb and Jari-Matti Latvala crashed and started today's final leg with a comfortable 38.2sec lead over Dani Sordo. With no pressure from behind, Hirvonen matched his pace to Sordo's split times to ensure his third career success in the WRC.

"It was such a strange and difficult rally but the way it has turned out is perfect," said 27-year-old Hirvonen. "The conditions were tricky with fog, ice and rain at different times during the weekend. This morning I widened the lead over Sordo during the first loop of stages and that meant I could relax and drive a little easier over the second pass.

"When my team-mate (Marcus Grönholm) retired on Friday, the pressure was on me to score points to help the team's championship fight and to help Marcus in the drivers' series. The only way I could do that was to fight with Loeb and try to beat him, which is what happened. It keeps the team in a strong position for the manufacturers' title and keeps Marcus in front also," he added.

BP-Ford team-mates and championship leaders Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen crashed when leading on Friday. The damage to the roll cage on their Focus RS forced them to retire for safety reasons, seemingly handing the advantage to arch rival Loeb in their fight for the world crown. However, Loeb retired and with neither driver scoring, Grönholm retains a four-point lead at the top of the standings.

"The championship situation for us is the same as it was before we came to Japan," said Grönholm. "I was expecting and wanting to come away from here with a lead over Sébastien and we are doing that. I have to be happy that we still have that lead after what happened on Friday. It's going to be really difficult but we're still confident going to Ireland and it looks like a really exciting end to the season. We have to make no mistakes now and try for the win on both remaining events."

BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson was delighted with Hirvonen's performance. "Since midday yesterday he hasn't been under huge pressure and this was an impressive drive. It's an important time for him as he prepares to step up within the BP-Ford team next year and he took his chance perfectly. The way this rally turned out wasn't what I expected. On Friday afternoon it wasn't looking so easy but in the end we've taken a step closer to the manufacturers' title," he said.

Ford TeamRS director Jost Capito said: "To win in Japan is special because this is one of the world's biggest car markets and to have four Focus RS cars finish in the top five here emphasises the performance and reliability of Ford's vehicles. Leading both championships keeps us in a perfect position for an exciting finale to the season on the final two rounds," he said.

News from our Rivals

Behind Hirvonen, Dani Sordo (Citroen) set two fastest times en route to his best result on gravel and Henning Solberg (Ford) matched his career-best finish with third. The fight for fourth was thrilling. Matthew Wilson (Ford) began the day 21.7sec behind Luis Perez Companc (Ford) but overhauled the Argentine on the penultimate stage and held on by 2.5sec to score his best result. Manfred Stohl (Citroen) rounded off the top six. Petter Solberg (Subaru), competing under SupeRally rules, finished 17th to take two manufacturers' points. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) looked set to take the final point for the French team until engine problems on the penultimate test cost more than 12 minutes and he retired before the final stage. So Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) took the point for the Stobart-VK M-Sport team, despite dropping 45sec after spinning shortly before the finish of the opening stage.

Next round

The penultimate round is the final asphalt event of the season and a first appearance in the championship for Rally Ireland. Using stages in both northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to the south, the rally is based in Sligo on 15 - 18 November.

Points

Road Racing
Time Attack
Drifting
Rally
Karting

Specific announcements on content and TV partnerships will follow. Traditional GT LIVE elements, such as the GT Sim Race race car rides, drift rides, and fan festivals will carry over into the new season as well. The preliminary 2008 schedule once again includes an East and West Coast stop:

Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 27-29 Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, October 3-5

Additional Information:
GT LIVE: http://www.gtlivetour.com
Miller Motorsports Park: http://www.millermotorsportspark.com
Virginia International Raceway: http://www.virclub.com

ABOUT GT LIVE & PARAMAX

GT LIVE is a production of Paramax, a motorsports content business founded in 1992, specializing in the motorcycle and automotive industries. Paramax created the GT LIVE concept in 2002, and executed the event for the first time in December 2004. More information on Paramax is available at http://www.paramaxusa.com.

May 10-11, 2008 - Moroso Motorsports Park, West Palm Beach, Florida

July 12-13, 2008 - Location TBA

September 13-14, 2008 - New Jersey Motorsports Park (Lightning Course), Millville, New Jersey (USA Series Final Round)

November 22-23, 2008 - Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California (Japan series final points round on Saturday and the D1GP World Championship match on Sunday)

"We are very excited to continue to bring the absolute best drifting content and youth lifestyle events to the markets we're already well established in, as well as expanding the geographical coverage of the D1 Grand Prix USA brand into new markets where demand for high quality drifting events is high.", stated D1 Grand Prix President Takeshi Hidesato.

In addition to adapting the unparalleled drifting entertainment made famous in the previous five seasons of D1GP USA exhibition matches into a genuine points chase format, D1 Grand Prix will also develop and evolve new and existing D1 Grand Prix international franchises to standardize vehicle and sporting regulations and judging standards globally. A pool of professional and highly-skilled judges will be hand picked and trained by Keiichi "Drift King" Tsuchiya himself to provide high-quality, standardized judging for all world-wide D1 Grand Prix competitions.

Following the successful event format established during the 2007 season, all D1 Grand Prix USA events in 2008 will include a Ikaten (driver search) portion in which new, up-and-coming drivers can compete in front of the distinguished D1GP judging panel for the chance at a coveted D1 Grand Prix USA annual competitor license. The Ikaten will be followed the next day by the professional D1 drift competition, lifestyle show and other exciting and exclusive content.

Additional announcements regarding the 2008 D1 Grand Prix USA Series and World-Championship event, including purses, sponsorship announcements, domestic and international television coverage and additional event content will be released over the next several weeks.