Finnish racer Marcus Grönholm won his seventh Rally Finland in eight years and his fourth in a row.
With his seventh win, Grönholm matched a record held by Hannu Mikkola, who took much longer to complete the feat, from 1974 to 1983 -- the year he won his only world championship.
Grönholm, who has won two world titles, extended his lead in this year's championship series by four points.
Another Finnish Ford driver, Mikko Hirvonen, was second, 24.2 seconds behind the leader, followed by reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb of France in a Citroën. Grönholm is now 13 points ahead of Loeb for the season with seven races to go. The next race is in Germany, two weeks from now.
Räikkönen 2nd in "Boring Race" Meanwhile Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen finished a close second at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which was overshadowed by spying allegations and driver penalties. The Finn started in third place after the starting line-up was reshuffled, with two drivers moved back in the grid as penalties. He moved quickly into second place. There he remained just behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton throughout the race, finishing 0.7 seconds behind the young British sensation. The Hungaroring course is notoriously difficult to overtaking. "It was a kind of boring race, just driving behind and waiting for something to happen," said Räikkönen. "Nothing really happened so we finished where we started. Räikkönen won the Hungarian race two years ago with the McLaren team. He is in third place in this season's drivers' standings, behind Hamilton and his disgruntled team-mate Fernando Alonso. Also earning championship points was Finnish rookie Heikki Kovalainen in eighth place -- just behind Finnish-German driver Nico Rosberg in seventh. The latter is the son of Keke Rosberg, Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion. He officially races as a German driver because of his mother's nationality. YLE, Reuters, AFP