ROUND 9 - FINLAND
Hirvonen wins Neste Oil Rally Finland! (2/8/09)
Mikko Hirvonen's resurgent form in the 2009 World Rally Championship continued today when the Ford Focus RS driver scored a dominant maiden victory on his home round of the series, Neste Oil Rally Finland.
The result was Hirvonen's third consecutive victory this season, the tenth of his career, and moved him further ahead at the top of the FIA drivers' championship standings, three points clear of defending champion Sebastien Loeb, who finished second today.
Victory on Rally Finland, the fastest round of the World Rally Championship, is seen by most drivers as the ultimate prize in the championship calendar - but it was especially sweet for Hirvonen, 29, who lives in host city Jyvaskyla and was tackling the event for the eighth time.
On last year's event he finished second, trailing his Citroen rival Loeb by nine seconds. However this year Hirvonen led from the second stage in his BP Ford Abu Dhabi team car, beating his rival fair and square by 25.1 seconds.
Hirvonen climbed onto the roof of his car at the finish control and punched the air in celebration, "I've been watching this rally since I was a kid, and now I've won it myself it's an absolutely fantastic feeling!" he said. "The rally went exactly like we planned. I always knew it would be close with Sebastien. I've enjoyed myself all weekend. It's absolutely fantastic!"
Five time champion Sebastien Loeb was Hirvonen's biggest threat throughout the rally but said his challenge effectively ended after he dropped a wheel into a pot-hole on SS15, pushing the tyre off the rim and losing 13sec.
"It was a good battle with Mikko, but he was really fast here," said Loeb. "It was looking good for Mikko to begin with but after my puncture it was over. I lost too much time and it was not possible to come back - the gap was too much. But okay, we are here, we lost two points in the championship - but it's better than losing ten like we did on the last couple of events! It will be an interesting end to the championship I think."
After moving ahead of Dani Sordo on Saturday, Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala took a well deserved third place, 24.8sec behind Loeb, and was relieved to make the podium after his last stage disaster on the previous round in Poland.
"I've never had to fight so hard for third place!" said Latvala. "I had extremely big pressure on Friday because of what happened in Poland, then I was really, really sick on Saturday and had to fight Dani - who was driving his best ever Rally Finland - then finally I had to keep the position to the end"!
Sordo finished fourth, 16.2sec behind Latvala, after one of the best drives of his career. Once known more for his ability on sealed surfaces than gravel, Sordo marked himself out as a true all-rounder after an amazing performance on all three days.
Sordo never put a foot wrong and played the perfect team role on the final day when he was asked to safeguard Citroen's manufacturers' series points position rather than going after Latvala. "It was a good, good fight with Jari-Matti and I'm happy because he was so fast here," said Sordo. "My car has been perfect, I'm happy with its performance and my feeling in the car on these stages was good. I think I can go a little faster but we needed this finish for the manufacturers' championship."
Like last year Finland's Matti Rantanen proved one of the sensations of the event. Last year he finished seventh on his first event in a World Rally Car. This year, on only his second world rally car outing, he finished fifth after fending off a last day attack from Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier, driving this event for the first time in a world rally car.
Rantanen started the day 17.5sec ahead, but lost all but 0.6sec of that advantage to Ogier before the final stage. In the end, however he clung on to the place by 0.3sec. "That was close!" said Rantanen. "A really good fight with Ogier, but I'm really happy now - it's incredible. I hope now to drive some more rallies but a lot depends of teams and sponsors."
Sixth placed Ogier was one of the first to congratulate Rantanen. "It was a fantastic result for him. I can't believe it - maybe he found another cut!" said Ogier. The Frenchman later said a small mistake had cost him the place: "It happened on the first corner, but even with that this has been a very good rally for me. It’s not a problem to finish fifth or sixth, but for sure fifth would have been better!
Seventh place went to another supremely talented local driver, Jari Ketomaa. Tackling his first event at the wheel of a world rally car, Ketomaa brought his Subaru Impreza WRC to the line 49sec adrift of Ogier. "I wanted to get more here because we have been fifth-fastest on some stages and that's where I wanted to finish," he said. "But okay the speed was good, we were beating on the door of those ahead, so I'm happy about that."
Eighth place, and the final drivers' championship point, went to Stobart Ford team driver Matthew Wilson. "That's out first point here, after a few times of trying but being unlucky," said Wilson. "Okay, it's not been a great rally, we need to work on a few things before we come back, but the stages today have been just awesome."
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Ford team boss reflects on a 'dream weekend' in Finland (2/8/09)
The boss of Ford's rally team, Malcolm Wilson, has praised the efforts of his drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala on Rally Finland, saying their first and third places made it a 'dream weekend' for Ford.
Rally winners Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen won by 25.1sec to extend their lead in the FIA World Rally Championship to three points with three rounds remaining. It was Hirvonen's third straight rally win and Ford's fourth consecutive victory of the 2009 season.
Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila joined their fellow Finns on the podium by claiming third in their Focus RS WRC. Latvala also topped the top speed chart by winning the penultimate special stage at a remarkable average of 131.56kph.
The results enabled Ford to close the gap on the leaders Citroen in the manufacturers' world title fight to 14 points, and capped a perfect week in which Ford announced it would extend its commitment to WRC for a further two years into 2010 and 2011.
"It's been a dream weekend for Ford," said Wilson. "After the results we've had it's something else to build on for the remaining part of the season. Both drivers did exactly what we were looking for."
Wilson summed-up Hirvonen's performance as 'absolutely outstanding'. "Without question, it was his best drive," he said. "Every stage he was always consistent. It was a big step even from last year, to the point where he said he was taking fewer risks this weekend than last year when he finished second. I think that's a message to Sebastien - there's a little bit more still to come."
Wilson said that his second driver, Jari-Matti had driven superbly in difficult circumstances. "I can't remember anybody else being under as much pressure going into a world championship rally - particularly their home event. So to come on the podium is a great turnaround from where we were in Poland."
Gerard Quinn, Ford of Europe's senior manager for motorsport said: "Victory in the country that is regarded as the spiritual home of rallying is a tremendous achievement. Four consecutive wins in conditions ranging from the blisteringly fast roads in Finland to the rock-strewn tracks and searing heat in Greece demands a blend of strength, speed and reliability from both man and machine and I look forward to us challenging in Australia next month."
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Drivers' championship standings - After 9 rounds
POS DRIVER PTS
======================
1. M. HIRVONEN 68
2. S. LOEB 65
3. D. SORDO 44
4. J-M LATVALA 31
5. H. SOLBERG 27
6. P. SOLBERG 25
7. M. WILSON 20
8. S. OGIER 16
9. F. VILLAGRA 14
10. C. RAUTENBACH 8
11. M. OSTBERG 7
12. K. AL-QASSIMI 6
13. E. NOVIKOV 4
14. C. ATKINSON 4
15. M. RANTANEN 4
16. K. HOLOWCZYC 3
17. J. KETOMAA 2
18. U. AAVA 1
19. N. AL-ATTIYAH 1
20. L. ATHANASSOULAS 1
Manufacturers' championship standings - After 9 rounds
POS CONSTRUCTOR PTS
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1. CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM 119
2. BP FORD ABU DHABI WORLD RALLY TEAM 105
3. STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM 64
4. CITROEN JUNIOR RALLY TEAM 33
5. MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM 20
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