Neste Rally Finland Leg 2

Neste Rally Finland Leg 2
10th Round FIA WRC 2006
19 August 2006





If the issue on the first leg of the Neste Oil Rally Finland was the weather, it was rocks and rolls on the second, with several front-runners crashing out of contention while others saw their challenge disappear on a large boulder.

The first stage saw overnight leader Gronholm and second-placed Loeb resume their battle from the first leg, with Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen also in the fight. All were on the pace straight out of the box and within fractions of each other, once again.



Chris Atkinson suffered early on though, as his Subaru Impreza lost all of its gears except third and he dropped down the order. However, he was to make it thorough the following two stages and back to service, where the team was able to replace the transmission ready for the afternoon stages.

However, it would be the following stage, the first of the split Ouninpohja stage that would claim the initial casualties. Xevi Pons was the first, rolling on the stage but he was soon followed by Petter Solberg. The Norwegian got sideways on landing from a jump and hit a rock, pitching his Subaru Impreza into a series of rolls. Both he and co-driver Phil Mills were unharmed but the car was destroyed.


(photo: Miika@forum.motorsport.com)

This promoted Henning Solberg to fourth but with the gap to Mikko Hirvonen ahead at almost 1min30sec, the pressure on the Finn was off. Dani Sordo had climbed to fifth and was clearly settling in to the fast gravel stages and setting about consolidating his manufacturer points position for the Kronos Total Citroen team.

The second of the two Ouninpohja stages, which were formerly a single test but had to be split to reduce the average speed, was to prove decisive, however. A rock the size of a football on the inside of a flat left hand corner caused the problems. First to suffer was Sebastien Loeb. He hit the rock and it immediately deflated his tyre and he lost 30 seconds to Marcus Gronholm in the stage. Gronholm also hit the rock but unlike Loeb, got away with it - his tyre remained inflated despite a hole in the wheel rim and he made it to the end of the stage with no time loss.

With their performance so close and such a time loss, Loeb said the fight for the win was effectively over and from there on in, he, Gronholm and Hirvonen established an almost identical pace that would keep them on the ball but ensure they reached the end of the event.



Kosti Katajamaki also fell foul of the rock, the impact pushing his suspension up through the bonnet, while a host of Junior World Rally Championship crews suffered as well.

The next stage saw the drivers holding station, no-one risking anything but stage 14 would cause more woes for the Kronos team. Dani Sordo, who was still improving and gaining invaluable experience, slid wide on the approach to a jump and the car landed off the road and on a rock. Both crew were shaken but OK but the same couldn't be said for the car, which was going no further.

The second run through part two of Ouninpohja was a subdued affair, again no-one pushing too hard.



Following a visit to the service park in Jyvaskyla, the crews headed for the longest stage of the event, the 40Km Moksi-Leutsu test. Many of the drivers complained that their tyres were moving around too much on the long stage, as result of heat build-up but it didn't cause any major issues. Henning Solberg had yet more brake problems in his Peugeot 307WRC; the team had got his front brakes working after the first loop of stages but now, he'd lost a rear brake pipe and would eventually end the day with no brakes at all.



Chris Atkinson's day didn't get any better either. His Impreza's power steering failed in the long stage and he lost time, and no doubt some weight, as he wrestled the car through the test. He lost a further 2min30sec in the process to end the day 13th but was philosophical, pleased that the team appears to have made progress with the car's development.

There was a final sting in the tail for Loeb - he complained of not being able to keep his car in a straight line under braking on the penultimate stage and this allowed the gap between him and Gronholm to grow, to just over a minute, sealing his position, as far as he was concerned.

However, Mikko Hirvonen may have other plans. He said that he would target Loeb's second place on the final day of the event.



Further back in order, Henning Solberg and Gigi Galli ended the second leg with just over a minute separating them, Galli following Solberg home. Behind them, the closest of the front runners are Janne Tuohino in a Citroen Xsara WRC and Jussi Valimaki in the sole remaining Mitsubishi Lancer WRC. They were within seconds of each other all day and end with Tuohino just 20seconds ahead of Valimaki, the latter still learning how to drive the car.

In Group N, Anton Alen, son of legend Markku and Patrik Flodin were having a titanic battle, with national honours at stake; Finland against Sweden respectively. They were another pair who traded times all day, a second here and a second there. They eventually returned to parc ferme with Flodin 10.7sec behind but with four stages to go, it's still to play for.


(story: wrc.com / photo: wrc.com)