Jari-Matti Latvala has become the youngest ever driver to win the Neste Oil Rally Finland on only his sixth attempt at the 'Gravel Grand Prix'.
“It’s a dream and I can’t even imagine it yet .It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a small boy. The fans in Finland are fantastic and I’ve won in front of my home spectators. When we did the second last stage it started to go in the right direction and we were a little on the safe side. It’s amazing, a big relief and a fantastic rally. Our team has done really hard work and this victory is for the team.”
Sebastian Ogier, who was recently promoted to the Citroen Total WRT, put on a late charge, which was resisted by Latvala. However, Seb 2.0 was happy with his result, on his third start on the event.
"I am very happy with this result," Ogier confirmed. "It's difficult to be happy when you are second, but Finland is very special. With my experience, this is better than I expected. Today was a very good day, although maybe I was too careful yesterday. If I knew yesterday I would be second, maybe I would have adopted another strategy.”
But the Frenchman admitted that there was considerably more pressure on him now that he has been moved up to the works squad.
"I am very happy with this result," Ogier confirmed. "It's difficult to be happy when you are second, but Finland is very special. With my experience, this is better than I expected. Today was a very good day, although maybe I was too careful yesterday. If I knew yesterday I would be second, maybe I would have adopted another strategy.”
2008 Rally Finland winner Sebastian Loeb lost all chances of victory when he clipped a wooden post, tearing off his front splitter, causing a considerable lost of front downforce, which resulted in very little front grip on corners and which caused the nose of the C4 to lift higher than the rear when going over a jump. With this in mind, Loeb understandably backed off to ensure he finished the rally on the finish ramp on Saturday evening, instead of finishing the rally in a tree.
"Sure I prefer to win," he continued, "but my priority was points for the Championship. If I can fight for the win I will try. But on the first day I lost time in stage three, four and five when I [had] broken the bumper. Then I was a bit far from the lead. I know in Finland to take some seconds it can be very difficult; I had to balance that and take the right choice."
However, he he said praised Latvala and Ogier, saying that they both drove brilliant rallies. He also acknowledged Petter Solberg, who pushed hard to regain third from Loeb, but couldn't quite get it.
"Bravo to Jari-Matti and Sebastien who drove great rallies today," Loeb reflected. "It's good for the sport that the team didn't give any orders at the end of the race [so that I could finish in P2]. The fifteen points I scored today are a precious help in view of the championship. I've achieved my aim in this rally.
"The goal was to score points but not necessarily to win. I had to fight to come back and beat Petter [Solberg for P3]. I did okay though, especially as this is not my rally. Third place is not bad for the championship."
Petter Solberg lead the rally until SS5, but then ran comfortably in second until the final day, when the two Sebastians overhauled him, which demoted him to fourth. Petter's reason for losing so much time was that he was backing off on the stages he didn't run last year.
“It has been a good rally, and though I am disappointed that I lost my podium, it has been good fun to drive this weekend and to fight with the big teams, says Petter Solberg. – I really tried to keep Loeb behind me, but I lost too much time on the stages that I didn’t drive last year. You need to experience them to be able to drive them fast. It has been a good close fight both days, the car was perfect and the stages and the atmosphere here fantastic, so – yes, it really has been a good weekend!”
Dani Sordo was happy with the car, but was not happy with his own performance, saying that, from him, there was no more to give.
“Fifth is not bad but I am not happy with my performance. The car was good, not always perfect, but after a very good test and the first stages there was no more from me. We need to be better the next time.”
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