Ford edges closer to Lancia's winning record

Mikko Hirvonen's victory on Repco Rally Australia was Ford's 73rd at World Championship level and puts Lancia's record of 74 outright wins under serious threat.

Victory for Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen or Jari-Matti Latvala on the next round in Spain would pull the blue oval level with the Italian firm's record breaking total, which has stood for 16 years.

Lancia amassed its 74 wins between 1974 and 1992 - with the first and last coming on the Italian firm's home round in Sanremo. Ford's first win came in 1973 but its most productive period has been in the last three seasons, with 25 victories since 2006.

Lancia's total includes Markku Alen's controversial victory on the 1986 Rally Sanremo, secured after organisers wrongly excluded the rival Peugeot team's cars for using what they believed was a banned aerodynamic device. The FIA later confirmed the exclusion had been illegal, and annulled the points awarded on the event.

But while Lancia's long standing victory record looks likely to be eclipsed soon, its other record of 10 world titles will take a lot longer to crack. Peugeot remains the closest rival in this contest, with a total of five titles.

Top five WRC manufacturers ranked by rally wins (after Repco Rally Australia 2009)

1. Lancia: 74
2. Ford: 73
3. Citroen: 58
4. Peugeot: 48
5. Subaru: 47