BANBURY'S Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg finished the Swedish Rally in fourth overall after the final day of gravel-strewn forest roads.

Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot continued to climb the rankings finishing 21st to collect an all-important Manufacturers' championship point.

With both Impreza WRC2007s scoring points this weekend, the Subaru World Rally Team remains tied for second place in the overall Manufacturers' Championship standings.

Solberg is tied for fourth in the Drivers' Championship, whilst Atkinson is just behind in sixth position after his haul of points on Rallye Monte Carlo.

Team principal David Richards said: "It's been rather a strange Swedish Rally given the lack of snow but all things considered we're able to come away with more Manufacturer points.

"We look forward to testing this week which will hopefully bring advantages in Mexico at the end of the month. Rally Mexico will bring a totally different set of challenges which have always suited Subaru in the past."

The final day of the Swedish Rally brought the same conditions, albeit the temperature was slightly colder, and the routes were run on gravel from the very first speed test this morning. It was left badly rutted and muddy after the morning's pass, and, as we saw yesterday, the second running in the afternoon was cancelled.

Solberg said: "We just drove today to finish the event and collect some more points, for us and the team. There was nothing special today and I'm pleased with fourth."

The rally was won by Jari-Matti Latvala for Ford to collect the first WRC victory of his career.

He finished the event 58 seconds ahead of his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen who was second.

Latvala, 22, becomes the youngest driver to win a WRC rally, a record previously held by the late Henri Toivonen, who was 24 when he won the 1980 RAC Rally.