Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson lauded praise on his young charger Jari-Matti Latvala after the Finn claimed his first World Rally Championship victory in dominant style on the Swedish Rally.

Latvala beat his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen by 58.3 seconds on the Karlstad-based event and, at 22 years old, broke his Finnish countryman Henri Toivonen's 28-year-old record to become the youngest event winner in WRC history.

And Wilson, who has run the young charger on and off since 2003 in a series of cars prepared by his M-Sport company, could not hide his joy at the result.

"This is a dream result and a special weekend," said Wilson. "And we're proud to have the youngest ever winner of a WRC event in our team.

"I knew Jari-Matti would win this season but it came sooner than I expected. Mikko delivered a textbook performance, the cars ran faultlessly and to score this result in such conditions is outstanding."

Latvala's win lifted him to second in the world championship with ten points. That puts him level with Sebastien Loeb - who retired in Sweden - and six behind Hirvonen, whose second place put him into the WRC lead for the first time in his career.

There was even more to smile about for Wilson as Gigi Galli made it a one-two-three finish for Ford in one of three Stobart cars also run by M-Sport and Henning Solberg - after crashing out on day two - set four fastest stage times on the final day.

Even the retirement of his 21-year-old son Matthew from fifth place, as a result of a stuck-open throttle on the penultimate stage, failed to put a dampener on things.

He instead reflected on the excellent speed and mistake-free driving that got him there in the first place, and praised the whole M-Sport organisation for putting themselves first and second in the manufacturers' championship - ahead of Citroen.

"It has been a superb performance from Gigi on only his second event for the team and he has really got up to speed with the car," said Wilson.

"The mechanics did a remarkable job to get Henning's car out again after his accident on Saturday as he was able to collect points and move the Stobart team to second in the championship.

"Matthew's performance has been fantastic here, he showed increased speed and control throughout the whole rally, he has really impressed me. To have two Ford teams at the top of the Manufacturers' Championship is incredible."

Jamie O'Leary / Eurosport