Neste Oil Rally Finland: S-WRC & P-WRC review

(S-WRC)

Juho Hanninen showed why he is currently leader of the IRC Series after taking a domiant win in the S-WRC class of the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

“There was nothing special today because we just had to keep up the concentration and not make any mistakes. We did that and I’m very pleased with this result.”

Nominated as a wildcard driver, alongside Matti Rantanen, Hanninen drove a Skoda Fabia S2000, run by Austrian Baumschlager Rallye and Racing firm, to a 1:10.7 victory over the fast, tree-lined roads.

Many S-WRC drivers were claimed by the Finnish roads, with Jari Ketomaa breaking the oil cooler for the gearbox (which left the car with no oil in the gearbox (not too hard to guess what happened to the gearbox then)), Albert Llovera succumbing to engine issues, Matti Rantenen going out with suspension problems and Denis Kuipers crashing out.

P-G Andersson jumped back into his Fabia S2000 after competing in a Ford Focus RS WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team on Rally Bulgaria. Patrick Sandell completed a Skoda and Red Bull 1-2-3 sweep of the podium.

Reigning J-WRC champion Martin Prokop claimed fourth in his Ford Fiesta S2000. Michal Kosciuszko, on his debut with the Skoda Rally Team Italia, landed fifth with former Skoda WRT driver Janne Touhino sixth.

Nasser Al-Attiyah had to restart under SupeRally, alongside a few others, after he broke the suspension on his Fiesta S2000.

Current S-WRC Championship leader Xevi Pons decided to pass on this event, so Andersson closed the gap to Pons down to 18 points

(P-WRC)

Ott Tanak, the protege of Markko Martin, stormed to a dominant win in the P-WRC class. Tanak eventual winning margin was 1:28.3 over Jukka Ketomaki with Hayden Paddon third, over 3 mins behind Tanak.

“I am very pleased with this result. It was hard against the Finnish drivers yesterday but today it was a clear route to victory.” siad Tanak.

“It’s a great result for me, but yesterday morning I lost a lot of time due to many problems and that was not good.” said Ketomaki.

Part of the Pirelli Star Driver programme, alongside Paddon, Tanak gained a huge lead over the first day's 8 stages. Tanak's job was made easier when Patrick Flodin's engine went on SS14.

Fourth, fifth and sixth were Anders Grondal, Alex Raschi and Martin Semerad.

The rest of the Pirelli Star Drivers, Nicholi Geogiu (10^th), Peter Horsey (9^th) and Alex Raschi (5^th), all completed the fast Finnish stages.

Early leader Juho Salo, like last year, lead for a time until, like last year, he crashed out of the event on SS7. Paulo Nobre went out on SS17 with mechanical problems.

If there was an award for the most spectacular exit from the rally, Alessandro Bruschetta would of won if with ease. The Italian drifted wide on a fast left-hander, put the back of the car into a ditch and rolled his Impreza N14 eight times. The car came to a rest just at the edge of the stage. Both Bruschetta and co-driver Edoardo Civiero were OK (but probably dizzy).