Neste Oil Rally Finland 2009 – Review

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BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver Mikko Hirvonen fulfilled a childhood dream by winning Rally Finland in front of his home town fans in Jyväskylä today. Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen won the legendary rally by 25.1sec in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car to extend their lead in the FIA World Rally Championship to three points with three rounds remaining. It was Hirvonen's third straight rally win and Ford's fourth consecutive victory of the 2009 season.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila joined their fellow Finns on the podium by claiming third in their Focus RS WRC. Latvala fought off a severe stomach upset yesterday to claim his maiden podium on his home rally. The results enabled Ford to close the gap on the leaders in the manufacturers' world title fight to 14 points, and ended a perfect week in which Ford announced it would extend its commitment to WRC for a further two years into 2010 and 2011.

Rally Finland, round nine in the 12-event championship, is the fastest rally in the series. Famous for its awesome roller-coaster jumps, Latvala topped the speed chart by winning the penultimate special stage at a remarkable average of 131.56kph. Few of the 23 gravel speed tests covering 345.15km fell below a 120kph average and even when heavy rain fell yesterday morning during the second leg, speeds remained high as the rock hard road surface softened to provide even better grip.

Munchi’s Ford WRT driver Matti Rantanen produced his best ever result in a WRC event taking fifth place by just 0.3 seconds from fast-charging Frenchman Sebastien Ogier. Rantanen’s countrymen Jari Ketomaa and Juho Hanninen also finished in the top ten.

Neste Oil Rally Finland 2009 Review

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Driver and Team Quotes at the end of the Rally

P1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 50min 40.9sec

I've watched this rally since I was a kid and now I have won here myself and joined so many of the sport's legends who have won here. It's such a fantastic sensation to win my home rally that I can't put my feelings into words. It has been such a great weekend for the team that there will be big celebrations tonight. I felt in control throughout the rally. It was a great battle with Loeb and when he had a problem, I could afford to take it a little bit easier.

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P2. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 51min 06.0sec

I would have preferred to have won, but there was little I could do about the result this weekend. Mikko put in a flawless run on his home event after being on the limit from start to finish. We've dropped another two points in the title chase, so it looks like it's going to be a close-run thing to the end.

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P3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 51min 30.8sec

It's one of the highlights of my career to finish on the podium on my home rally. After my mistake on the final stage in Poland last month, I was under the biggest pressure of my life here and it took time to regain my rhythm and confidence. Then I fell ill, but overtaking Dani Sordo to move into third was a turning point and my times became better and better. I feel I have grown up mentally since Poland and my role for the rest of the season is to support Mikko's drivers' title challenge in the way I did here.

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P4. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 2hr 51min 47.0sec

It's a shame we didn't manage to hold on to third place, but there were times when we succeeded in rivaling with the drivers who were fighting for victory. More than anywhere else, experience is vital here in Finland and I feel I progressed to a higher level on this year's event.

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P6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 2hr 54min 59.4sec

That doesn’t really matter if you look at the way that the rally has gone for us generally. I’m very happy with how we drove on the second half of the event. We enjoyed ourselves a lot and built up a lot of confidence, thanks to a perfect car and good pace notes. We were able to up the speed as the rally went on and this continues our learning curve well. Now I can’t wait to get to Australia!

P8. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 2hr 57min 14.5sec

It has been a really valuable learning experience and we always pick up more things here than at any other rally. We made changes to our notes after Rally Poland to make them more accurate on the wider roads and that has worked fairly well; it’s made them more precise. It has been good to see that I’m improving and this is my best ever result here. I’ve gained a lot of experience of the new stages which will help me next year.

P9. K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 3hr 03min 38.2sec

Five of the top 10 finishers were Finns so to take ninth is a credit to the team.

Following two impressively consistent days, Conrad Rautenbach and Daniel Barritt were caught out by the seventh kilometre of Myhinpää 2:

That’s not how we wanted to end our rally. We weren’t takingany risks but these are always very complex stages. I’m bitterly disappointed.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg:

We came to this rally aiming for another top-five and things were looking good but unfortunately part of the suspension broke and we had to retire at the start of the second day. With our aim not possible I had to focus on getting more points for the Stobart team. We tried our best for this and on the final day our times were good; it was also useful to have that extra driving ahead of Rally Australia.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director and Stobart VM M-Sport Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson described his 'dream weekend':

Both Mikko and Jari-Matti delivered a perfect job for the team. Without question, it was Mikko's best drive. Winning Rally Finland is a turning point in his career, but I never doubted he would take victory here one day. He has increased his lead in the drivers' standings and the destination of the title could go down to the final round. Jari-Matti drove superbly, especially given the pressure he was under.
It has been a solid team performance on one of the hardest and most specialised events in the championship. Experience counts for so much here and both crews did a great job to bring the cars home and earn yet more manufacturer points for the Stobart team. It’s a pity that Henning had to SupeRally as I believe that he could have achieved another top-five finish.

Gerard Quinn, Ford of Europe's senior manager for motorsport:

Victory in the country that is regarded as the spiritual home of rallying is a tremendous achievement. Four consecutive wins in conditions ranging from the blisteringly fast roads in Finland to the rock-strewn tracks and searing heat in Greece demands a blend of strength, speed and reliability from both man and machine and I look forward to us challenging in Australia next month.

Citroën Racing Director Olivier Quesnel:

Of the four rounds which remained ahead of this weekend, this is the one we feared the most. I think it's fair to say that we were beaten by the best man on the day. Seb and Daniel's performance cannot be faulted, however, while Dani's result means that we have only dropped three points in the Manufacturers' standings. We still enjoy an enviable lead of 14 points. I would also like to
congratulate Martin Prokop who has succeeded in securing the C2 Super 1600's second consecutive crown in the JWRC.

Stobart Group CEO Andrew Tinkler:

Finland is famous for its high speeds and demanding stages and both Stobart crews have done extremely well to earn manufacturer points. Matthew and Scott have taken a lot from this event and the experience and improvements they have made with their pacenotes will stand them in good stead for the future.

Benoit Nogier, Citroën Junior Team Manager.

It was a big accident for Conrad Luckily the crew is uninjured, even though the car is damaged. Sébastien has driven an exceptional rally. Very few drivers have been able to set a fastest stage time here on their debut in a top category car. He obtained this great result by gradually increasing his pace, to mix it with the frontrunners by the middle of the second day. For three rallies now, he has shown his capability to challenge for top results. This is very satisfying, particularly after what is well known as the most difficult event of the season. Now we are going to concentrate on Rally Australia, where we will run two cars for Conrad Rautenbach and Sébastien Ogier. Until then, we have a lot of work to do to prepare our C4 WRCs for their next challenge.

Neste Oil Rally Finland 2009 Review

Final Leaderboard

1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen (FIN) Ford Focus RS 2h50m40.9s
2. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroën C4 +25.1s
3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila (FIN) Ford Focus RS +49.9s
4. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) Citroën C4 +1m06.1s
5. M Rantanen/M Lukka (FIN) Ford Focus RS +4m18.2s
6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia (FRA) Citroën C4 +4m18.5s
7. J Ketomaa/M Stenberg (FIN) Subaru Impreza +5m07.5s
8. M Wilson/S Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS +6m33.6s

FIA WRC manufacturer standings

1. Citroen Total WRT - 119
2. BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT - 105
3. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford - 64
4. Citroen Junior Rally Team - 33
5. Munchi’s Ford WRT - 20

FIA WRC driver standings

1. M Hirvonen - 68
2. S Loeb - 65
3. D Sordo - 44
4. J-M Latvala - 31
5. H Solberg - 27
6. P Solberg - 25
7. M Wilson - 20
8. Sebastien Ogier - 16

Stage Wins

1. Sebastien LOEB / Daniel ELENA 67
2. Mikko HIRVONEN / Jarmo LEHTINEN 39
3. Jari-Matti LATVALA / Miikka ANTILLA 29
4. Dani SORDO / Marc MARTI 8
5. Henning SOLBERG / Cato MENKERUD 8
6. Petter SOLBERG / Phill MILLS 6
7. Evgeny NOVIKOV / Dale MOSCATT 5
8. P-G ANDERSSON / Anders FREDRIKSSON 3
9. Matthew WILSON / Scott MARTIN 2
10. Mads OSTBERG / Jonas ANDERSSON 1