Ingrassia passed fit for Finland

Current leader of the FIA Co-Drivers Championship Julien Ingrassia has been passed fit to contest next weekend's Rally Finland alongside regular driver and Driver's Championship leader Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier (R) and Ingrassia (L) winning Rally Portugal

Having broken his collarbone whilst out on his mountain bike in Corsica, it was initially feared he would have to miss Rally Finland, the WRC's fastest rally. Nicolas Klinger, Theirry Neuville's former co-driver, was drafted in to co-drive for Ogier on a recent VW test while Ingrassia recovered.

Although understandably keen to tackle Finland, he admitted he would give the event a miss if it transpired to be “dangerous or stupid” to compete, in order to be able to complete the season.

Even though the Frenchman's collarbone is being held together by a titanium plate and nine screws, he completed a medical examination two weeks ago at the Bad Nauheim Sports Injury Clinic in Germany and also completed a test on Saturday. With this in mind, Ingrassia's team of doctors have passed him fit to compete in Finland.

“I am so relieved that I have managed to get back to full health in time for the Rally Finland. My thanks go out to the doctors for the great job they have done on me and the whole Volkswagen team, who have always supported me and sent me their best wishes. Now, I cannot wait to get back out on the road with Sébastien.” he said.

Ingrassia's team boss Jost Capito was keen to see his Championship leading co-driver return to the #8 Polo R WRC, saying:

“The whole team is very happy that Julien is back to full health and can start racing again. Our main priority is always the well-being of our drivers – we never want to take any risks. In the worst case scenario, it would have been better that Julien sits out one race than risk being out for a long time. You can only start a World Championship rally if you are in good health. That's why in Nicolas Klinger we would have had an excellent replacement.”

Capito thanked Klinger for his “great levels of commitment” in testing with Ogier. It was expected Klinger would co-drive for Ogier in Finland until news of Ingrassia's recovery broke.

“I would like to thank Nicolas for the great levels of commitment he demonstrated in the most recent test runs and for his willingness to step in for Julien in Finland if needed.” he said.

Image credit: Willy Weyens

Strong entry for Rally Finland

Home hero Mikko Hirvonen leads the 101 car strong entry list for the ever popular Rally Finland, again sponsored by Neste Oil.

The 101 crews entered into the rally make it the most popular rally of 2013, sporting fourteen WRC cars. Citroen, M-Sport and Volkswagen are all present with their usual drivers, the only exception being Kris Meeke replacing Khalid Al-Qassimi, who will be absent due to other commitments.

Meeke's last WRC rally was in 2011 on Wales Rally GB, where he finished a career-best fourth overall. Since then, his competitive running has been minimal, mainly confined to testing, 00 duties on the Ypres Rally in the new Peugeot 208 R5 and a once-off appearance at the Lurgan Park Rally in 2012 (which he won, naturally). He will take over Al-Qassimi's entry as a once-off.

Sebastian Loeb hasn't nominated Finland as one of his four rallies this year, he has confirmed he isn't interested in adding any extra rallies to his already extremely busy schedule.

Local hero's Jarkko Nikara and Juho Hanninen both mark their competitive returns, Nikara in an uprated Prodrive-run MINI John Cooper Works WRC, and Hanninen in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Riku Tahko pilots the other MINI on the entry list, the most amount of MINI's seen on a WRC entry list since Michal Kosciuszko switched from a MINI to a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Yazzed Al-Rajhi heads the WRC2 entry, which also features Robert Kubica, Robert Barrable, Jari Ketomaa, Esapekka Lappi and Elfyn Evans, who is taking part in a Ford Fiesta R5. Barrable and Karl Kruuda will also pilot the new Fiesta R5.

WRC3 is dominated by the Citroen R3 drivers, headed by Sebastian Chardonnet. Alastair Fisher (who lead the WRC Academy round here in 2011), Christian Riedemann, Bryan Bouffier and Keith Cronin are also present. Cronin looking to overturn a 27 point deficit to series leader Chardonnet after having suffered horrible luck in the past couple of rounds.

Junior WRC leader Pontus Tidemand starts at number 102 in his Ford Fiesta R2, and he can expect to be put under pressure by second in the Championship Jose Antonio Suarez and by local drivers Niko-Pekka Nieminen and Andreas Amberg.