Rally Finland Day Three
Rally Finland Day Three
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
NESTE OIL RALLY FINLAND
(01-04 AUGUST 2012)
04.08.2012
The Citroën Total World Rally Team notched up its fourth consecutive one-two finish of the season on Rally Finland today. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena claimed their sixth victory this year, leading from start to finish, with team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finishing just 6.1 seconds adrift after 303.52 kilometres of competition. Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila rounded off the podium positions.
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Loeb has once again extended his advantage and the Frenchman now has a 43 point lead over Hirvonen. Petter Solberg and Mads Ostberg also retain third and fourth respectively. In the Manufacturers’ Championship maximum points for Citroën ensures a commanding advantage over Ford.
Today’s route took in three stages, all repeated, and concluded with the legendary Ouninpohja stage which is regarded as one of the most challenging and spectacular in the sport. The second pass over this 33.01 kilometre stage was the Power Stage, where an additional three, two and one point were on offer for the fastest three drivers. Here, Hirvonen, Solberg and Loeb collected the points, all three of them beating or matching the previous stage record.
Loeb led the rally from the outset; however there was no respite for the Frenchman today as, without team orders, Hirvonen was determined to push to the limit to win his home round of the Championship. Loeb was therefore forced to maintain his pace to secure his 73rd world rally and third Rally Finland win. Behind Hirvonen, both Latvala and Solberg were unable to match the pace and finished third and fourth respectively. Mads Ostberg lost time with a broken prop shaft but managed to reclaim fifth position ahead of Ott Tänak. Finland’s Matti Rantanen and Jari Ketomaa were seventh and eighth respectively, Martin Prokop claimed ninth and Sébastien Ogier rounded off the top 10 for Volkswagen Motorsport. Ken Block was the leading retirement of the day, the American breaking the suspension after a jump when he was holding 10th overall.
The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head to central Europe for ADAC Rallye Deutschland (24-26 August), an all-asphalt event based in the roman city of Trier.
Rally Finland – Final Provisional Results (subject to final scrutineering)
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena 2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen 3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila 4. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson 5. Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson 6. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk 7. Matti Rantanen/Mikko Lukka 8. Jari Ketomaa/Mika Stenberg 9. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza 10. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia |
Citroën DS3 WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Skoda Fabia S2000 |
2 hr 28 min 11.4 sec 2 hr 28 min 17.5 sec 2 hr 28 min 46.4 sec 2 hr 29 min 07.5 sec 2 hr 30 min 43.5 sec 2 hr 30 min 59.0 sec 2 hr 33 min 03.1 sec 2 hr 34 min 13.3 sec 2 hr 34 min 15.7 sec 2 hr 36 min 57.4 sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 8 of 13 rounds)
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Petter Solberg (NOR) Mads Østberg (NOR) Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Evgeny Novikov (RUS) Martin Prokop (CZE) Thierry Neuville (BEL) Dani Sordo (ESP) Ott Tänak (EST) Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Sébastien Ogier (FRA) Armindo Araújo (PRT) Dennis Kuipers (NLD) François Delecour (FRA) Henning Solberg (NOR) Pierre Campana (FRA) Matti Rantanen (FIN) Jari Ketomaa (FIN) Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) Patrik Sandell (SWE) Ken Block (USA) Ricardo Triviño (MEX) Peter Van Merksteijn (NLD) Manfred Stohl (AUT) Eyvind Brynildsen (NOR) Abdulaziz Alkuwari (QAT) |
171 points 128 points 104 points 90 points 69 points 55 points 38 points 32 points 29 points 26 points 23 points 23 points 11 points 8 points 8 points 6 points 6 points 6 points 6 points 4 points 4 points 4 points 1 point 1 point 1 point 1 point 1 point |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 8 of 13 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team Ford World Rally Team M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Qatar World Rally Team Citroën Junior World Rally Team Adapta World Rally Team MINI WRC Team Brazil World Rally Team |
280 points 171 points 115 points 49 points 48 points 37 points 26 points 16 points |