Neste Rally Finland / Rally review
After a speedy recovery from an injury suffered in a training incident, Julien Ingrassia
was available in Finland to guide Ogier.
Nordic hegemony
Finland still seems to be the highlight of the
season. That goes for us at Rally-eMag but also
for the drivers. Everyone wants to win in Finland. Formerly this used to be the Nordic playing ground. Carlos Sainz, however, has already
taken away this historic right for a Scandinavian
win, in 1990. In 1992 it was Didier Auriol who repeated that trick. Then Kankunnen (2), Mäkinen
(5) and Grönholm (3) divided the wins, claiming
back their right. In 2003 it was Markko Märtin
who won, but being an Estonian, he can be considered to be a Nordic.
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France poised to take over
Grönholm won another 4 times, before in 2008,
Loeb claimed his first victory. Hirvonen and Lat-
After a difficult first half of the season Mikko Hirvonen set out with one clear goal: win.
vala held on to their birth right in 2009 and 2010
but since then it was France in the person of
Loeb who proved that Nordic hegemony is over.
Would Ogier be able to prove that point? “This
is the rally everyone wants to win,” he says
making his intentions clear.
rally car in competition.
The other camps
But at Ford they say the same. Especially Mads
Østberg seemed to have had a firm talk with
himself. “I feel good,” he smiles. “We had very
good tests so I know the car is also good so I
Ingrassia
feel really confident for a good battle.” At CitOgier is helped in his quest for Finland victory
roën things are still a bit awkward. This is Hirby the fact that beside him he can see the favonen’s rally but he doesn’t feel at ease at the
miliar face of Julien Ingrassia again. After a very moment. The same goes for teammate Sordo.
speedy recovery from his injuries, caused by a
The élan of the team has to come from Al Qasfitness training accident, Ingrassia can assume simi replacement Chris Meeke. This new recruit
his tasks as co-driver again. As a precaution he has completely different frame of mind. “I’m
is wearing a kind of harness to prevent the still
really happy I have been given the chance to
fresh operation wound from being harmed by
show what I’m worth.”
the constant banging and swaying of a modern