A quick Rally Finland update. Day 2 is under way and Jari-Matti Latvala has just claimed slim lead over Petter Solberg, just 9 seconds behind. Citreon teammates Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb are currently sitting in 3rd and 4th, respectively, followed by Dani Sordo in 5th driving for the Citroen Junior Team. Mikko Hirvonen was looking to repeat his success at last year’s Rally Finland and to get back on track and score some points in the driver’s standings, but suffered a huge crash, rolling several times. Mikko was leading his home rally by just under 5 seconds, before rolling his car 5 times. Neither Mikko or his co-driver were injured in the crash, but Hirvonen’s Ford Focus RS suffered substantial damage and will not be able to continue.
Video (onboard and outside) of Mikko Hirvonen as he crashes out of Rally Finland in his Ford Focus RS.
Hirvonen said, “It landed nicely in the middle of the road but it was quite a heavy landing. It happened so fast, there was nothing I could do. We went straight into a bank and rolled straight in the road, up the hill, for a long time. The speed wasn’t too much but at that speed I knew when it landed we’d be lucky to stay on four wheels. The dream is over and it’s just disappointing. We were at least at a good speed and know we’re heading in the right direction. That’s good. A crash like that is not going to distract me or scare me. It’s done and we’ll go to the next rallies and try to go as fast as we did here. There are still some rallies to go and we have to try and do as well as we can on those rallies. We were leading here and I want to get up there as soon as I can. We’ll see about [winning in] Germany but for sure we’ll try.”
For live coverage of Rally Finland visit: http://www.wrc.com
