The titanic battle for victory between Petter Solberg (Subaru) and Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) ended on the second stage of the final day.   Grönholm rolled into retirement and Solberg cruised home to win by 2min 11.1sec from a delighted Marko Martin in the Peugeot 307. Markko Martin: "I am a little surprised to finish second here! It was an action-packed rally with nothing decided right until the very end. I learnt a lot about the set-up of my car and about the new Pirelli tyres. I was very pleased by their performance – they were very fast and retained the studs extremely well despite the difficult and gravely road conditions. I'm really looking forward to the Rally Mexico next month now, which is an event I won last year."

The final podium position went to Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car to head the drivers' series by a point after two of the 16 rounds.  Fifth place for Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud in an M-Sport run Focus RS enabled Ford to take a three point advantage in the manufacturers' table.

Next round

Round three takes competitors to Mexico for the first gravel rally of the season.  The Rally Mexico is based in Leon on 10 - 13 March.

Final positions 1.  P Solberg/P Mills                   N               Subaru Impreza  3hr 00min 52.1sec 2.  M Märtin/M Park                     EE              Peugeot 307             3hr 03min 03.2sec 3.  T Gardemeister/J Honkanen   FIN             Ford Focus RS   3hr 04min 06.8sec 4.  H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen   FIN             Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 04min 18.5sec 5   H Solberg/C Menkerud                N               Ford Focus RS   3hr 04min 21.9sec 6.  D Carlsson/M Andersson              S               Peugeot 307             3hr 04min 34.6sec 7.  G Galli/G D'Amore                   I               Mitsubishi Lancer       3hr 04min 56.1sec 8.  R Kresta/J Tománek          CZ              Ford Focus RS   3hr 05min 31.7sec 9.  J Paasonen/J Vainikka               FIN             Skoda Fabia             3hr 06min 03.2sec 10 M Ekström/S Bergman          SWE             Skoda Fabia             3hr 07min 56.3sec

FIA World Rally Championship (after round 2 of 16) Drivers                                                 1.  T Gardemeister              14pts                   2.  M Märtin                    13pts                   3= S Loeb                       10pts                   3= P Solberg                    10pts                   5.  H Rovanperä           7pts                  6.  G Panizzi                     6pts                  7= H Solberg                      4pts

Manufacturers 1.   Ford                       20pts 2=  Peugeot                     17pts 2=  Mitsubishi                  17pts 4.   Citroen                    11pts 5.   Subaru                     10pts 6.   Skoda                        3pts