Juho Hanninen has taken his second straight S-WRC Rally Finland win, and second straight S-WRC win this year, extending his lead in the drivers championship.
“I kept a good speed all day without taking any stupid risks. I am very happy and the championship is now looking good with this very important victory. But there is still a long way to go.”
Hanninen now extends his advantage to 18 points over Martin Prokop, who won the first round. Prokop took second in Finland, albeit over two and a half minutes behind Hanninen. Despite this, he had a good gap back to Ott Tanak in third, so could concentrate on getting the car home. Tanak endured a difficult rally, leading the rally only to spin twice & stall yesterday, losing around 3 mins. He also broke a drive shaft on the Power Stage, but got the car home in third for 15 points.
Hermann Gassner Jr., in the other Red Bull Skoda, was demoted to fourth after Ott Tanak passed him on SS12. Frigyes Turan, who took third in Greece, finished fifth after overheating problems on Day 1. Differential problems and an under-performing engine left Bernardo Sousa in sixth. Differential failure for Karl Kruuda yesterday left him unable to mount an attack on the front-runners and finished eighth. Kruuda finished over 10 mins off the lead at the finish.
(P-WRC)
Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon has kept his run of form intact with his third straight win from his three starts.
“It’s like a dream come true to win here. I came here wanting to be on the podium so to leave here with maximum points is a great feeling. I’ve not won many stages but I’ve been consistently fast over the whole weekend and certainly there is more pace to come. I’m still learning the car and the new events.”
Jarkko Nikara took second after a brace of stage wins yesterday, and took a further nine today, but after his roll on Friday, he was never in the running for victory. Nevertheless, he took a healthy 18 points away from the rally, and now lies ninth in the standings after his first event of the year. Even though he couldn't win the rally after his time loss on Friday, Paddon conceded that Nikara's sheer speed was beginning to worry him a little.
“I got a bit nervous this morning when Nikara kept catching me because he was really fast.” said Paddon. “That meant I had to watch my back. But we didn’t have any problems and the team did a great job.”
Patrick Flodin endured more bad luck today after his problems yesterday. He lost fourth gear on SS15 and turbo gremlins put him even further back. At one stage he was within grasp of Jukka Ketomaki, but with his problems resolved and a good time over the Power Stage netted him third place.
“We drove absolutely over the limit on that final stage. This was definitely the worse Rally Finland for me. I had so much trouble and couldn’t really enjoy it. At least taking a podium made me a little bit happy.” said the Swede, now third in the standings.
Ketomaki had to settle for fourth, only 5.5 secs behind Flodin. Michal Kosciuszko took fifth. Local wildcard driver Mikko Pajunen ended sixth after sitting second in P-WRC this morning in his Renault Clio R3. Ultimately, the extra power & 4WD of the Group N machines proved too much for the little Clio to overcome, but he still netted the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award for an undoubtedly excellent drive.
“It has been brilliant. I’ve done even a bit better than anybody expected. The difference today is that there are more junctions and I can’t really compete against the guys with four-wheel drive cars. We dropped a few positions but I’m still really happy.” said Pajunen.
Mentos Ascania Racing drivers Valeriy Gorban and Aleksey Kikireshko finished seventh & eighth, while Dmitry Tagirov took the final position, ninth, after breaking a wheel this morning.
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