(Via MINI Motorsports) Special Stage 1: Not only Dani and Kris finished the first stage strong. Also private MINI WRC driver Matti Rantanen showed how much homecourt advantage matters on the demanding stages of Rally Finland. The Finnish driver finished sixth overall. Three more MINI WRC cars with Armindo Araujo, Mattias Therman and Daniel Oliveira at the wheel also made it safely through the opening “Lankaama” stage. Shakedown: At Rally Finland the MINI WRC Team went off to a good start. During the shakedown Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke were able to get a feel for their MINI John Cooper Works WRC cars. On early Thursday morning the MINI WRC Team had to get ready for the official shakedown. With the co-drivers Carlos del Barrio and Paul Nagle Dani and Kris did an excellent job and are looking forward to the first three special stages of this rally. More...
Stage updates for Day 1 (from minimotorsport.com): Special Stage 1: What a promising start into the competive stages of Rally Finland with both Dani and Kris in the top ten at eighth and tenth place overall respectively. Not only they finish the first stage strong. Also private MINI WRC driver Matti Rantanen shows how much homecourt advantage matters on the demanding stages of Rally Finland. The Finnish driver finishes sixth overall. Three more MINI WRC cars with Armindo Araujo, Mattias Therman and Daniel Oliveira at the wheel also make it safely through the opening "Lankaama" stage. Special Stage 2: Dani continues where he left off on special stage one. He scores the second fastes time which lifts him to a fifth place overall. Kris is insignificantly slower with a fifth place on this stage. He also moves upwards in the overall rankings to eighth place. Meanwhile, bad luck for Matti Rantanen who – after a very strong opening stage - had to stop after an early crash. Special Stage 3: For a short while Dani sits on top of everybody on special stage 3 but then has to give way to some of his opponents. Kris is also holding his ground. At the end of day one Dani and Kris claim sixth and ninth overall to start highly motivated into Friday's action. Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb is first overall. ***** Full classification listing here.
I thought this quote from Kris as good: 52. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Mini John Cooper Works WRC) Said with the smile: staying in the middle of the road, and taking no chances. Jim
... and also: "Kris Meeke is ninth in the second factory MINI on what he has described as a “high speed recce†due to his limited stage knowledge."
Very good statement, even thought I had to look that one up. I guess it could also be said that, "MINI" is doing a "reconnaissance in force". Jim
Stage updates for the first half of Day 2 (from minimotorsport.com): Special Stage 4: Day two of the Rally Finland gets off to a tough start with the 20.35-kilometre fourth special stage, which many experts rated as the most difficult special stage on the rally after the Recce. Dani finishes in tenth place and is happy with his performance. "That was a nice stage," says Dani. Despite this he still drops a place to seventh place overall. Kris is less happy. "I drove like my gran," says Kris. His performance is still good enough for 13th place on this special stage, however. Special Stage 5: Kris's disgust with his performance on the fourth special stages really spurs him on. The self-proclaimed "grandma" goes airborne, ending Special Stage 5 in sixth place, 1.4 seconds faster than Dani who finishes in eighth place. Kris moves up a position in the overall classification and is now eighth, one place behind Dani. Special Stage 6: The morning draws to a close with the longest special stage of the second day – the 29.9-kilometre "Hyväneula" – before the remote service. Kris continues where he left off on Special Stage 5 and is one second faster than Dani. Dani and Kris will start the second part of the day, in which five special stages await the drivers, from seventh and eighth places respectively. ***** Full classification listing here includes results of add'l stages not listed above.
Snip from an article on wrc.com: "Dani Sordo lost time with a sensor problem on Friday morning before he momentarily went off the road on the final stage following a rare driving error in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. The Spaniard is seventh overnight. Kris Meeke had closed to within a handful of seconds of team-mate Sordo only to pick up a 20-second time penalty for arriving at the start of stage eight two minutes behind schedule when his John Cooper Works WRC refused to restart after he’d stopped on the road section. In the rush to get his car fired up neither Meeke nor co-driver Paul Nagle were able to check the rear doors of their MINI had been secured and they flapped open during the stage."