RALLY FINLAND INTO DAY TWO....
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Thanks to Andries keeping you all, including those buggers who are too lazy to read, happy, I suppose I can actually write as, when and how long I want?
Day One of Rally Finland took a nasty turn when one of the favourites, Mikko Hirvonen crashed out of the event when on the second pass through the stage he nailed a right-hander leading into a jump, he claims they landed perfectly and then inexplicitly the car veerer hard to the left and they rolled five times. This put paid to his efforts to win the event, one day before his 30th birthday!
With Mikko out of contention Jari-Matti Latvala suddenly found himself in a scary position leading a pack of hungry Citroëns with four adrenaline filled crazy drivers chasing him!
Jari-Matti Latvala and his navigator Miikka Anttila led the race by 9.1 seconds from Norwegian Peter Solberg who is followed Sebastien Ogier trailing him by 13s. This is Ogier first rally in the official Citroen World Rally Team.
Latavala managed to win three of 11 stages, Solberg took 2, Loeb took 2, Sordo (now in the junior team) while the retired Hirvonen won two stages taking the lead until he crashed in SS4, while Ogier won a single stage.
The gap between Latvala and the Sordo in 4th on day one was 43.7 seconds.
Then from the outset on day Two - the Citroen attack started with Ogier taking stage 12 beating Latvala by 1.1s with Loeb 3rd fastest.
In Stage 13 things must have looked a bit bleak for Ford when Latvala lost 5 seconds to Loeb and almost 4 to Ogier. The gap shrank to 15.2 seconds with Ogier moving past Peter Solberg into second spot.
Solberg now came into the sights of Loeb!
In Stage 14 Latvala however pulverized them beating second fastest Ogier by 7.3s - stretching the gap to 22.5s. Solberg however lost 3.7s to Loeb and now has only 6.1s in hand!
The fun continues!
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