Ford target manufacturers' title

Lead driver Marcus Gronholm clinched his third win of the season in the Acropolis Rally and Mikko Hirvonen secured his second consecutive podium with a steady drive to third.

With Sebastien Loeb finishing second, he remains 29 points ahead of Gronholm in the drivers' standings, which the Finn believes is insurmountable.

However, the are team only 15 points behind in the manufacturers' championship and have vowed to do all they can over the 10-week summer break to be in a position to compete for victory on the asphalt surface of the Rallye Deutschland in August.

"We have many improvements on the car for Germany and a test there," Gronholm said. "We can do a good job, but Sebastien has won there many times. I will definitely try.

"It's quite difficult for the championship for me; I need help from Sebastien in that case.

"But we are fighting the next rallies, we have to try to win and we have a good chance for the manufacturers' title - that's the aim and the goal for me and the team."

Ford Team RS director Jost Capito has insisted that 2006 remains a development year for the team, but will they will put in every effort into improving the car for the rest of the season.

"The Acropolis was a good test under difficult conditions," Capito said. "The speed was there before; it's not new news for this event. I think there will still be work to do, but the previous rallies have shown the speed is there.

"This is still our development year. We were caught a little by the calendar - the asphalt rallies coming earlier. Now we have some time to improve the performance before the next rally on asphalt - Rallye Deutschland."