WRC: Rally Finland (2013)

Steve · Aug 2, 2013

Officials have taken 24sec from Kris Meeke's time because of the delay following Novikov. I wonder how they decide how much time to deduct. Leaves him still 5th but now only 8.1sec behind Hirvonen.

Steve · Aug 2, 2013

Ogier takes 38sec lead into Finland finale (WRC.com)

01 Aug 13

Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier will start Saturday's final leg of Neste Oil Rally Finland with a 38 second lead after a perfectly-managed performance on today's nine stages.

The Frenchman began Fridayâ€™s action second in his Polo R, trailing Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville by 5.2sec, and nestled near the top of a pack of seven drivers separated by less than 23 seconds.

Things remained tight all morning, with Ogier trading stage wins with Citroen DS3 driver Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg in a Fiesta RS, so that just 11.4 seconds covered the top four at the midpoint service.

But it was all change in the afternoon, when Ogier upped his pace on the rutted surface of the repeated stages, winning all of them while one-by-one his rivals hit trouble.

â€œItâ€™s been a perfect afternoon,â€ Ogier acknowledged. â€œIâ€™m very pleased with the way that the car worked, how we were able to push, and also the way that I managed my pace. But itâ€™s not over yet, thereâ€™s still a long day to come tomorrow.â€

Overnight leader Neuville lost the position on todayâ€™s opener, but remained close until the 13km Mokkipera (SS13) when he slipped more than 30 seconds behind after driving most of the stage with a punctured left front tyre.

Another tyre related-problem followed on SS14. â€œWithout the puncture it was an okay day,â€ said the Belgian. â€œIt was a shame, but okay thatâ€™s rallying. I donâ€™t have that many but this time itâ€™s happened.â€

Ostberg is third, less than one second behind Neuville. The Norwegian was right with Ogier until SS15 - the dayâ€™s final forest stage - when he hit a rock, shattered his Fiestaâ€™s front left wheel and dropped 45 seconds.

â€œWeâ€™re still here, and Iâ€™m happy about that,â€ he said. â€œIt was a big shame but you know, punctures happen and itâ€™s just unfortunate. Thereâ€™s nothing we can do. Okay, we know we have the speed to beat Thierry tomorrow, so thatâ€™s what weâ€™ll do.â€

Hirvonen is fourth 1m04.4s off the lead, and the first to fall out of the victory battle. The Finn clipped a bank and had a massive spin on SS11, losing 20 seconds and damaging two tyres and his DS3â€™s rear suspension.

The winner here in 2009, Hirvonen is hoping things will go his way on the remaining eight stages. â€œThereâ€™s still a long and fast day to go. My plan is simple â€“ to go flat out and try and catch the guys in front,â€ he said.

Citroenâ€™s stand-in driver Kris Meeke is fifth on his debut in a DS3 World Rally Car. The Brit was slowed on SS10 when he caught - but was unable to pass - the damaged Ford of Evgeny Novikov, but was second-fastest on two stages.

â€œIâ€™ve had plenty of hard days in the WRC over the years but this is the best hard day Iâ€™ve ever had,â€ he grinned. â€œItâ€™s so, so satisfying to be with a proper team and in a proper car â€“ Iâ€™ve always wanted an opportunity like this. Thereâ€™s more to come, and weâ€™re improving step by step.â€

Jarkko Nikara is sixth in a Prodrive-prepared Mini JCW, and the highest placed privateer.

Andreas Mikkelsen was seventh until the penultimate stage when he retired his Volkswagen Polo R after the finish, the car having shed its left rear wheel and suspension.

Instead the position is held by Citroen works team driver Dani Sordo, who struggled for most of the day. â€œItâ€™s difficult to know why I havenâ€™t had a good feeling but weâ€™ll keep pushing,â€ he said.

Jari Ketomaa is eighth, with Evgeny Novikov ninth after his crash on stage 10.
After handling problems on day one, and driving this morningâ€™s stages with front-wheel drive only, P-G Andersson had a better afternoon to return his Fiesta RS to service in 15th.

Jari-Matti Latvala restarted today under Rally 2 rules after his leg one retirement. The Volkswagen driver had a good run but is more than 20 minutes behind the leaders as the last WRC runner.

Czech Ford Fiesta RS driver Martin Prokop had been ninth until he retired after SS11 with an overheating engine. He joined Hanninen on Fridayâ€™s retirement list, the Finn stopping with broken suspension after SS9.

WRC 2

Jari Ketomaa continued his domination of the WRC 2 category by winning eight of todayâ€™s nine stages to increase his lead to 70.2sec in the new Ford Fiesta R5. Polandâ€™s Robert Kubica lies second in a Citroen DS3 RRC with New Zealander Hayden Paddon completing the podium 1min 55sec further adrift in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

WRC 3

Keith Cronin tops WRC 3 with a comfortable 1min 34.2sec lead over series leader Sebastien Chardonnet. Finlandâ€™s Jussi Vainionpaa lies third, 26.1sec behind, with all three drivers in Citroen DS3 R3 cars. Leg 1 leader Alastair Fisher rolled into retirement in SS8.
Click to expand...

Steve · Aug 2, 2013

Penalty for Novikov as time change puts Meeke in the fight for fourth (MaxRally.com)

by Richard Rodgers / 2nd August 2013

Evgeny Novikov has been given an official reprimand by the Rally Finland stewards for not moving out of Kris Meeke’s way on stage eight this morning.

Meeke spent approximately 11 kilometres trying to pass the Russian’s Ford Fiesta, which had been damaged when he crashed into logs earlier in the run. In his efforts to overtake to limit the increasing time loss, Meeke picked up a front-left puncture after briefly running into a ditch.

Novikov said afterwards that he’d been unaware Meeke was running immediately behind him and insisted that he moved out of the way when he became aware of a message transmitted by his M-Sport team.

However, on viewing video evidence and hearing statements made by Meeke and co-driver Chris Patterson, the stewards concluded that the “passage of car 10 was impeded by car 5 through SS8”. They “imposed a penalty of a reprimand on competitor 5 for the behaviour shown during this incident”.

Meeke’s time for the first Palsankyla test has been adjusted to 7m09.6s, which was the same time he set when the stage was repeated this afternoon. It means the Briton will start day three 8.1s behind his Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen in the battle for fourth overall.
Click to expand...

Steve · Aug 2, 2013

Nathan · Aug 2, 2013

^^^ That is just nuts...really big ones.

Crashton · Aug 2, 2013

WOW!!! :eek6:

Steve · Aug 3, 2013

I was paying attention mainly to see how Jarkko Nikara and Riku Tahko (both Fins) would do in their MINIs, ex-works MINI driver Kris Meeke on his test run in a Citroen and Robert Kubica on his first run in Finland.

Kubica did well to learn the stages and finish 2nd in WRC2, 9th overall. Tahko had a major problem early and was playing catch-up from then on but finished stages usually at or near the back of the WRC pack.

Nikara and Meeke both impressed, though. Until Stage 22 Meeke was running 5th overall and regularly finishing stages well ahead of his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo. Not bad for his first ever WRC run in Finland (I think) and his first ever WRC run in a Citroen. Up to the same point, Nikara was running 6th overall, almost 2min ahead of Sordo in 7th. Unfortunately, both met the end of their rally on Stage 22. Meeke rolled (4 times?) near the end of the stage and Nikara retired after the stage with suspension damage.

You can see Meeke's roll (onboard) in this highlights video from Citroen:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6FIODtIenY]CitroÃ«n WRC 2013 - Rally Finland - Day 3 - YouTube[/ame]

Victory for Ogier in Finland (WRC.com)

03 Aug 13

Sebastien Ogier won a thrilling Neste Oil Rally Finland this afternoon to claim his fifth success of the season.

It was a 12th career victory for Ogier, who brought his Volkswagen Polo R to the Jyvaskyla finish with a 36.6sec advantage. It stretched his lead in the FIA World Rally Championship to 90 points with five rounds remaining.

Thierry Neuville took the runners-up spot for the second consecutive rally in a Ford Fiesta RS. The Belgian finished 21.0sec ahead of the similar car of Mads Ostberg, after an enthralling duel which was only decided when Ostberg went off the road in the penultimate stage.

â€œI had a dream about winning here,â€ said the Frenchman, who became only the fifth non-Nordic driver to win this classic event. â€œA lot of points for the championship and victory in Finland make it a perfect weekend.

â€œWe pushed when we had to and backed off when necessary to save the tyres and the car,â€ said an emotional Ogier, who ensured that for the third consecutive year the rally was won by a non-Finn after 53 wins for the host country in the previous 60 editions.

Huge crowds lined the blisteringly fast roller-coaster forest roads of central Finland to watch what proved the most exciting event of the season. Four drivers led during the opening seven tests and just 11 seconds covered the quartet at the midpoint.

However, Ogier built a comfortable lead yesterday afternoon with a string of stage wins as one-by-one his rivals encountered problems. He had the luxury of measuring his pace through todayâ€™s final leg, but still produced the necessary speed to smash the record for the classic Ouninpohja test.

Neuville and Ostberg were locked together all day. The advantage swung to and fro and they started the second pass through Ouninpohja split by one-tenth of a second. But when Ostberg went off the road avoiding a huge rock, the battle was decided.

â€œItâ€™s an unbelievable feeling,â€ admitted Neuville. â€œWe did a great job. Yesterday we lost time with a puncture but otherwise it was a smooth, clean run. Before the rally I couldnâ€™t have imagined this result was possible.â€

Third marked a change in fortune for Ostberg after a disappointing opening half of the season.

â€œItâ€™s nice to be here fighting for the whole rally without any problems,â€ said the Norwegian. â€œWe have been leading, we had a safe second and we ended up third. But itâ€™s great to fight for the win again and rebuild my confidence because it was low after the first half of the season.â€

Mikko Hirvonen, who also led during the first leg, was fourth in a Citroen DS3, 1min 21.6sec behind Ogier. His chances ended when he dropped time in torrential rain on Thursday evening, but he was lucky to see the finish after twice almost rolling.

â€œItâ€™s not what we were after from this rally, but we had our good moments,â€ said the 2009 winner.

Kris Meeke was on course for fifth in another DS3 after a fine debut in the car, but the Briton rolled out in the penultimate test. There was also late disappointment for Jarkko Nikara, who retired his Mini John Cooper Works from sixth with a broken front right shock absorber.

All that allowed Dani Sordo to claim a distant fifth in a DS3 after what the Spaniard admitted had been a poor rally for him. Evgeny Novikov rounded off the top six in a Fiesta RS, the Russian recovering after crashing into a log pile yesterday.

WRC 2 winner Jari Ketomaa took seventh after a successful debut for the new Fiesta R5, ahead of Swedenâ€™s P-G Andersson. The top 10 was completed by Robert Kubica, who finished second in WRC 2, and Andreas Mikkelsen, who rejoined today after losing a wheel yesterday.
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Steve · Aug 3, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MsdR_rql6Y]Highlights - 2013 WRC Rally Finland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 3, 2013

Close but no cigar for hero Meeke (MaxRally.com)

by Richard Rodgers / 3rd August 2013

Kris Meeke was one kilometre from the finish of Ouninpohja when his “dream weekend” turned into a nightmare and he rolled out of fifth place and retired, it has emerged.

Briton Meeke had impressed throughout Rally Finland on his debut in a Citroen DS3 WRC, which also marked his first appearance in the world championship since his home round back in November 2011.

“I was in a corner and I went a bit in the loose and I thought it would be fine but the rear got caught and we went off and rolled,” Meeke said.

Meeke and co-driver Chris Patterson were uninjured in the crash although the former IRC champion said he was hurting inside.

“You cannot imagine the pain I’m feeling to miss the perfect weekend,” Meeke continued. “It has been fantastic to work with the team over for the rally, I learnt so much and it’s an incredible experience to work at this level. I am sorry and I don’t know what will happen next.”
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Steve · Aug 4, 2013

Some of the Finnish trees tried to hold up Kubica. Notice the "debris" he left behind for others to deal with.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhTVjMBdad8]Robert Kubica near crash Finland 2013 - If in doubt, flat out! - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 4, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3f8P4mp82k]WRC 2013 Finland, SS21 Leustu. Y. AL RAJHI - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 5, 2013

This being Finland, there are more good videos available. I'll post a few here very soon. In the meantime, here's a good recap from MaxRally.

That was Finlandâ€¦ The MAXRALLY wrap

by Anthony Peacock / 5th August 2013

You used to read Anthony Peacockâ€™s post-event reviews on WRC.com but, following a close-season switch, Anthonyâ€™s exclusive analysis of each round of the world championship is now only available at MAXRALLY.

This is a hard one to explain but Iâ€™ll do my best with it: Finland managed to be both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. Or maybe it was simply predictable in its unpredictability.

It was obvious that the Finns would come under huge pressure. And with the way things have been this year, it was equally obvious that this pressure would not be a good thing, even though Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen were not entirely the architects of their own downfall this time: especially in Mikkoâ€™s case.
The result was the first non-Finnish podium since 2003, 10 years ago, which at least has a certain neat symmetry.

Finland is probably the rally where the crews â€“ in fact, not just the crews â€“ feel the most pressure. Maybe itâ€™s the heat or the thousands of fans, but thereâ€™s an intense pressure-cooker atmosphere fuelled by the massive hype that surrounds the event. No wonder they call it the â€˜Finnish Grand Prixâ€™.

The format first adopted in 2010, with the action essentially compressed into two and a bit extremely long days, only adds to that. Itâ€™s not quite like the old-style Tour de Corse, where the rally took place as a flat-out sprint within 24 hours, but the atmosphere is remarkably similar. And the result is the same: no mistakes go unpunished.

Finland is certainly a test of speed, precision and stamina â€“ but most of all itâ€™s a test of nerve. The degree of mind-melting concentration required from driver and co-driver is unequalled anywhere else. Thatâ€™s why Sebastien Loeb has been so successful in Finland previously despite claiming that heâ€™s not especially suited to it.

A pity that he wasnâ€™t there: it would have been fascinating to see the sort of fight he could have taken to the other Sebastien, in a Volkswagen. Because at the moment, Loeb is the only person with the consistent mental strength to beat him in a place like Finland. For the second event on the trot now, there was no Citroen on the podium. Before Sardinia, that hadnâ€™t happened since Portugal last year â€“ and only then following Hirvonenâ€™s disqualification. Thatâ€™s how serious the post-Loeb era is for Citroen, with the manufacturersâ€™ championship seemingly beginning to slip from the red teamâ€™s grasp now too.

But it wasnâ€™t all bad news for the Velizy squad. The performance that Kris Meeke put in should make Dani Sordo lock himself in the sauna with a bottle of vodka to think about what heâ€™s done for a couple of weeks â€“ to paraphrase the great Markku Alen (who was, we should make it clear, talking generally about what it feels like to finish second in Finland rather than about Dani specifically. Although second would certainly have been a good result for the Spaniard hereâ€¦)

Meekeâ€™s performance showed that heâ€™s lost none of his speed, and while he may have gone down on the penultimate stage, he went down fighting: every kilometre of the way.

This has to be placed firmly in the context of someone who has never previously competed in the DS3 WRC at all, or indeed any World Rally Car for 20 months. And the last time Meeke drove a complete Rally Finland was 2005. Compare that with WRC2 winner Jari Ketomaa, for example, who estimated that he had driven some of these stages around 15 times in the Finnish championship.

Itâ€™s a crying shame really: makes you wonder what Meeke could have achieved had he enjoyed the same opportunities as Sordo with Citroen (or even had the Mini adventure continued for him after 2011).

Hereâ€™s a startling fact that we never even realised until Kris himself told us a few months back: â€œDuring my first six events with a factory car I was closer to the front than any other driver who has entered the championship in the last 10 years,â€ pointed out Kris. â€œWe averaged 0.6 seconds per kilometre off the fastest time on every stage we did. The only other person to do that in his first six events was Sebastien Loeb.â€

By way of comparison, according to Krisâ€™s calculations (and as someone who has a degree in engineering from Belfast University, he should be good at those) Ogier was 1.4 seconds off the pace of the leaders during his first six World Rally Car events.

Food for thought, isnâ€™t it?

Hereâ€™s another startling fact to get your head around, which also underlines raw pace. This year, Thierry Neuville â€“ who drove the best rally of his WRC career in Finland â€“ was 0.1 seconds slower than Hirvonen during the second run through Ouninpohja: reputed as the ultimate test in bravery and skill (although the truth is that most of the Finnish stages are a bit like that). Last time he was 1m16s off the pace. Thatâ€™s the difference a year makes: unbelievably this was only Neuvilleâ€™s second Rally Finland. Which also makes you think.

It shows the capacity of the truly great drivers to soak up information like a dipsomaniac sponge, which is what allows them to make these quantum leaps from year to year in terms of speed.

With Neuville and Ostberg swapping places seven times for the runner-up spot, it also goes to show how sensationally fast the Fiesta RS WRC is. And after a couple of days in it during which he didnâ€™t exactly cover himself in glory, Evgeny Novikov might want to think about joining Dani in that sauna to ponder opportunities missedâ€¦

Again, a crying shame for the Fiesta squad as itâ€™s in some ways a story similar to Meekeâ€™s: had the opportunity been there this year, with full manufacturer backing, M-Sport (or Ford, as it would have been) could have given Volkswagen a serious run for its money. And maybe, with the homologation freeze in place for next year, the Cockermouth-based team might yet do that â€“ so all credit to Volkswagen for agreeing to stop development and put sport ahead of their own interests. It makes their victories all the more deserved (especially for co-driver Julien Ingrassia in Finland, who must have still endured moments of excruciating pain over the jumps from his injured ollarbone, whatever he claimedâ€¦)
As Volkswagenâ€™s team principal, Jost Capito, put it: â€œIâ€™m not sure Iâ€™ve seen a performance like that anywhere else.â€

We think so too.
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Steve · Aug 5, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NB5VuT8f6A]WRC Rally Finland 2013 | Jumps Crash & Show | HD Pure sound - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 5, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-bWmiYLkgE]Neste Oil Rally Finland 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 5, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keyvk8RkChI]WRC Rally Finland 2013 [HD-Pure sound] By Devillersvideo - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 5, 2013

Major jump:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcZ3peGv7DE]Neste Oil Rally Finland - Ouninpohja first jumps... - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 5, 2013

VW's summary:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvWQBvPkh1E]2013 Rally Finland - Summary - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 6, 2013

Ouninpohja Onboard:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2s-WqXcG9A]Ouninpohja Onboard - Sebastien Ogier - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 6, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U17-O7pxG5M]WRC Rally Finland 2013 | Slowmotion clip - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 6, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDYO9Ya6DA]WRC Rally Finland 2013 - Kris Meeke catches Evgeny Novikov - YouTube[/ame]

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