Story from www.wrc.com
Stage data: SS8, Lankamaa 1 (23.06 kilometres)
Stage description:
By Ford World Rally Team co-driver Miikka Anttila: “The road section for this stage takes you along the Juha Kankkunen road so it’s known as the Juha Kankkunen stage. The stage has narrow bits and wide bits. There used to be a very a famous corner by a barn where Khalid Al-Qassimi and Petter Solberg have rolled in the past but now it has been changed. There is a section that goes over a hill, which is very narrow and tight and you have to be very neat, you cannot go wide. That’s quite challenging.”
How the action unfolded:
Mikko Hirvonen is five seconds adrift of Sebastien Loeb as the battle for top honours on Neste Oil Rally Finland continues.
Finnish hero Hirvonen, in a Citroen DS3 WRC, was 1.5s quicker than his French team-mate, the winner of the FIA World Rally Championship title for the last eight seasons, to narrow the gap between the top two drivers.
“I was sure I had a puncture,” said Hirvonen. “There were lots of rocks on the road and I was going wide in places and hit a big rock on one corner. We’re just going flat out.”
Loeb, meanwhile, revealed he has been struggling with a mechanical issue since the end of the previous stage: “I have a problem with the rear diff since the stage before,” he said. “It overheated and we lost the oil. It was handling really strange and we were sliding everywhere. We lose a bit of time and I wasn’t sure if we could complete the stage at one point.”
Jari-Matti Latvala was the leading factory Ford driver, 0.2s down on Hirvonen. “It’s the first time we are not losing anymore, we have a chance to keep the fight on. You never know what is happening in this rally so we have to keep pushing.”
Mads Ostberg blamed set-up issues for his failure to close the gap to fourth-placed works Ford pilot Petter Solberg. Chris Atkinson’s hopes of a point-scoring finish on his return to the WRC appear to be over after the Australian hit trouble 10 kilometres into the run in his Citroen after he went off the road. Jari Ketomaa’s frustrating day continues due to a persistent engine misfire. The Finn remains in eighth overall ahead of countryman Matti Rantanen.
Sebastian Lindholm reported a significant time loss running first on the road through the loose surface gravel in his privateer Fiesta: “This was definitely the most slippery stage we’ve done so far. I was all over the road and all of the time getting nowhere.”
Armindo Araujo, in the lead WRC Team MINI Portugal entry, also lost time forging a clean line through the loose surface gravel.
More...
Stage data: SS8, Lankamaa 1 (23.06 kilometres)
Stage description:
By Ford World Rally Team co-driver Miikka Anttila: “The road section for this stage takes you along the Juha Kankkunen road so it’s known as the Juha Kankkunen stage. The stage has narrow bits and wide bits. There used to be a very a famous corner by a barn where Khalid Al-Qassimi and Petter Solberg have rolled in the past but now it has been changed. There is a section that goes over a hill, which is very narrow and tight and you have to be very neat, you cannot go wide. That’s quite challenging.”
How the action unfolded:
Mikko Hirvonen is five seconds adrift of Sebastien Loeb as the battle for top honours on Neste Oil Rally Finland continues.
Finnish hero Hirvonen, in a Citroen DS3 WRC, was 1.5s quicker than his French team-mate, the winner of the FIA World Rally Championship title for the last eight seasons, to narrow the gap between the top two drivers.
“I was sure I had a puncture,” said Hirvonen. “There were lots of rocks on the road and I was going wide in places and hit a big rock on one corner. We’re just going flat out.”
Loeb, meanwhile, revealed he has been struggling with a mechanical issue since the end of the previous stage: “I have a problem with the rear diff since the stage before,” he said. “It overheated and we lost the oil. It was handling really strange and we were sliding everywhere. We lose a bit of time and I wasn’t sure if we could complete the stage at one point.”
Jari-Matti Latvala was the leading factory Ford driver, 0.2s down on Hirvonen. “It’s the first time we are not losing anymore, we have a chance to keep the fight on. You never know what is happening in this rally so we have to keep pushing.”
Mads Ostberg blamed set-up issues for his failure to close the gap to fourth-placed works Ford pilot Petter Solberg. Chris Atkinson’s hopes of a point-scoring finish on his return to the WRC appear to be over after the Australian hit trouble 10 kilometres into the run in his Citroen after he went off the road. Jari Ketomaa’s frustrating day continues due to a persistent engine misfire. The Finn remains in eighth overall ahead of countryman Matti Rantanen.
Sebastian Lindholm reported a significant time loss running first on the road through the loose surface gravel in his privateer Fiesta: “This was definitely the most slippery stage we’ve done so far. I was all over the road and all of the time getting nowhere.”
Armindo Araujo, in the lead WRC Team MINI Portugal entry, also lost time forging a clean line through the loose surface gravel.
More...
Source: http://www.motorsportforums.com/wrc-news/154217-ss8-loeb-reveals-technical-glitch.html
Fabio Biliotti Wilf Billington Hartmut Bischoff Gastone Biscia
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