Ogier lands first Finland win

Consolidating his lead in the 2013 World Rally Championship for Drivers, Sebastien Ogier claimed a “dream” victory on the high speed gravel roads of the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

Sebastien Ogier

Claiming twelve stage wins out of a possible twenty three, Ogier wrapped up a 36.6 sec win over the very impressive Theirry Neuville. Neuville himself with locked in a battle for second with team-mate Mads Ostberg, both of whom were unable to stay with Ogier.

Thierry Neuville

“I had a dream about winning here. [We gained] A lot of points for the championship and victory in Finland make it a perfect weekend. We pushed when we had to and backed off when necessary to save the tyres and the car,” said Ogier.

Neuville held the overnight advantage after Day 1, driving tactically over the rough and soggy stages. Ogier held second, 5.2 secs down on the flying Belgian, also driving carefully in the poor conditions. Third was occupied by Mads Ostberg, 8.9 secs down on the leader.

Mads Ostberg

Day 2 was all about Ogier and the VW Polo R WRC. Netting seven fastest stage times from the day's nine stages, he rocketed into a 38.1 sec lead over Neuville. Ostberg was breathing down the Belgian's neck, sitting less than a second behind in third.

All Ogier had to do over the final eight stages was to hang onto his lead, which he his admirably. Dropping only 1.5 secs throughout the day to the chasing pack, Ogier decided to have some fun over both runs of the legendary Ouninpohja stage, breaking the stage record on the second run. The battle between Neuville and Ostberg ended when Ostberg went off and dropped 20 secs avoiding a rather large rock.

Speaking of his second placed result on only his second trip to Finland in a WRC car, Neuville said: “It’s an unbelievable feeling. We did a great job. Yesterday we lost time with a puncture but otherwise it was a smooth, clean run. Before the rally I couldn’t have imagined this result was possible.”

Mads Ostberg has had a season fraught with problems, both mechanical and driver-errors. However he put those issues behind him and, for a time, fought for the rally lead. However a solid third place for the Norwegian could help him back up to consistent rally-leading pace. He might have won the rally, if not for shattering a wheel on Day 2 and the off-road excursion on the final day.

“It’s nice to be here fighting for the whole rally without any problems. We have been leading, we had a safe second and we ended up third. But it’s great to fight for the win again and rebuild my confidence because it was low after the first half of the season.” he said.

Leading Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen endured a disastrous rally, finishing over 1 min 20 secs behind Ogier in fourth. Almost rolling on two separate occasions, he suffered a large time loss on Thursday evening when heavy rain left the roads in a very poor condition and, running last of the front runners on the road endured the worst of the conditions.

Hirvonen's team-mate Dani Sordo finished fifth, benefiting from Kris Meeke's exit on SS22. Evgney Novikov rounded out the top six in sixth, having completed a very eventful rally, suffering a crash on SS10, which threw the bonnet up over the windscreen.

Jari Ketomaa won WRC2 and finished seventh overall, ahead of PG Andersson who had a relatively quiet rally in eighth. Robert Kubica and Andreas Mikkelsen (who lost a wheel on Day 2 and was forced to restart) rounded out the Top 10.

Jari-Matti Latvala

Jari-Matti Latvala had an even more disastrous rally than compatriot Hirvonen. Initially confident of a good rally, Latvala smashed his suspension to pieces on the first day. Running repairs allowed him to continue for a bit but he eventually admitted defeat. He was later blasted by team director Jost Capito, who said it shouldn't happen happened. But, after reviewing the situation, he changed his tune to “It was not at all his [Latvala's] fault”, acknowledging a weakness in the Polo R WRC's rear supension.

Well worth a mention is the performance of Dungannon's Kris Meeke. Having not competed on a top level rally in 20 months and having not finished Rally Finland since 2005, Meeke faced an uphill struggle when asked to step in for Khalid Al-Qassimi in Finland. However, he silenced the doubters when he kept pace with Citroen star and local hero Mikko Hirvonen over the latter half of the rally, holding an impressive fifth place overall in his first rally in a DS3 WRC. A small mistake on SS22 sent him rolling out of the rally, but it just goes to show that given a decent car Kris Meeke is world class, and very few people can dispute that.

Kris Meeke

Keith Cronin

Keith Cronin also showed his world class pace by dominating the WRC3 category in Finland. Inheriting the lead after early leader Alastair Fisher crashed out (rolling spectacularly on SS8), Cronin was never troubled afterwards. With 1 min 14.5 secs in hand over Sebastian Chardonnet at the end, it's hard to believe this is only Keith's first visit to Finland!




Please note: Images copyright to their respective owners, in no particular order Willy Weyens, Citroen WRT and M-Sport.