Shakedown
When shakedown for rally Finland was run yesterday it was seven time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb who set the fastest time. The Frenchman set a benchmark time of 1m35.7s through the 3.19-kilometre Ruuhimaki practice stage.
Loeb’s team-mate Sebastien Ogier was second quickest with a time of 1m36.3s. Jari-Matti Latvala, last years rally Finland winner, was the leading Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver in third overall with a time of 1m36.6s. His team mate Mikko Hirvonen only managed an eight fastest time.
Norwegian Petter Solberg set a time of 1:36.8, fourth quickest.
Kimi Raikkonen, was seventh quickest in his ICE 1 Racing Citroen. The Finn completed six runs in shakedown and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom was satisfied with their performance. “Everything was okay, no problems and we had a good feeling,” he said.
Kris Meeke was 11th fastest in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC.
Russian Evgeny Novikov, who missed out on a pre-event test, completed nine runs to fine-tune the set-up of his M-Sport Stobart-entered Fiesta. He was sixth quickest.
Here are the top 10 times from the Shakedown session:
1. LOEB. Citroen DS3 WRC. 1:35.7
2. OGIER. Citroen DS3 WRC. 1:36.3
3. LATVALA. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 1:36.6
4. P. SOLBERG. Citroen DS3 WRC. 1:36.8
5. OSTBERG. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 1:36.9
6. NOVIKOV. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 1:37.0
7. RAIKKONEN. Citroen DS3 WRC. 1:37.1
8. HIRVONEN. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 1:37.4
9. WILSON. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 1:37.4
=10. SORDO. MINI John Cooper Works WRC. 1.37.6
=10. MEEKE. MINI John Cooper Works WRC. 1.37.6
Stage1
Mikko Hirvonen's hopes of winning his home rally suffered a set back on stage 1 after he went off the road and struck a tree. The Finn reported brake and suspension damage at the end of the stage following the impact to the right rear of his car.
“We went into one left-hander and the engine died,” said Hirvonen, who was almost 40 seconds off the pace. “We went wide, hit a tree lost all the brakes. The suspension is also damaged.”
Hirvonen had to drive his damaged car through two more stages before reaching the saftey of night service.
Jari Ketomaa, making his debut in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, shocked everyone by setting the fastest time through the stage.
Sebastien Ogier was second fastest and said he had been “flat-out everywhere” . Hirvonen’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was third quickest after admitting to being cautious and not “pushing to the maximum”.
Sebastien Loeb, running first on the road, was fourth quickest. He said: “I was pushing hard but it’s very dry with a lot of loose gravel. But I’m okay, I did a good stage.”
Matti Rantanen was the quickest MINI John Cooper Works WRC driver with the sixth fastest time.
Stage 1 Lankamaa (23.76km)
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 19 | J. KETOMAA | 11:44.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | 11:44.7 | +0.2 | +0.2 |
| 3. | 4 | J. LATVALA | 11:48.0 | +3.3 | +3.5 |
| 4. | 1 | S. LOEB | 11:50.5 | +2.5 | +6.0 |
| 5. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 11:52.1 | +1.6 | +7.6 |
| 6. | 18 | M. RANTANEN | 11:52.6 | +0.5 | +8.1 |
| 7. | 22 | O. TÄNAK | 11:54.5 | +1.9 | +10.0 |
| 8. | 37 | D. SORDO | 11:54.8 | +0.3 | +10.3 |
| 9. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 11:58.8 | +4.0 | +14.3 |
| 10. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 11:59.5 | +0.7 | +15.0 |
Stage 2 , Laukaa (11.79 kilometres)
Sebastien Loeb set the fastest time on stage 2 with a lead of 1.7s over Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier.
With the overall positions at the end of this stage being used to determine the running order for Friday, Loeb will run first on the road.
Jari-Matti Latvala admitted dropping time at the end of the stage to gain a better road position for the second day.
“I had a target time sent by the team and I slowed down at the end of the stage,” said the Finn
There was more despair for Mikko Hirvonen following his off-road moment on the previous stage. The Ford driver reported the right-rear wheel of his stricken Fiesta RS WRC jammed approximately five kilometres from the end of the stage, which caused a puncture. Putting him almost 1m30s adrift of first place.
 |
| Hirvonens damaged Fiesta |
Matthew Wilson was third fastest 4.8 seconds off the fastest time.
SS3, Laajavuori 1 (4.19 kilometres)
World champion Sebastien Loeb set another fastest time on stage 3. Loeb, was 1.1s quicker than Ogier with Norwegian privateer Petter Solberg third fastest.
Solberg may have began the stage in seventh overall but his speed through the spectator stage means he will return to the overnight halt in Jyvaskyla in fifth overall
Jari-Matti Latvala was the leading Ford driver in fourth with Mads Ostberg fifth and Henning Solberg seventh.
Mikko Hirvonen brought his damaged Fiesta to the stage finish with only three working brakes following earlier stage problems. The local boys time was 33.7s slower than the standard set by Loeb, whose overnight advantage is 2.8s.
Going into day 2 the overall classifications are as follows
Overall
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | M | 1:29:01.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | M | 1:29:02.8 | +1.5 | +1.5 |
| 3. | 4 | J. LATVALA | M | 1:29:03.9 | +1.1 | +2.6 |
| 4. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | M | 1:29:30.5 | +26.6 | +29.2 |
| 5. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | M | 1:30:01.4 | +30.9 | +1:00.1 |
| 6. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | M | 1:30:30.0 | +28.6 | +1:28.7 |
| 7. | 37 | D. SORDO | 1:30:37.5 | +7.5 | +1:36.2 | |
| 8. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 1:30:52.3 | +14.8 | +1:51.0 | |
| 9. | 25 | J. HÄNNINEN | S | 1:31:05.3 | +13.0 | +2:04.0 |
| 10. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 1:31:07.4 | +2.1 | +2:06.1 |
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