Neste Rally Finland / Rally review
Exciting finale
The final day in Finland is a full day.
Two loops of four stages including two
passings of the mother of all stages:
Ouninpohja. This stage was the one
Ogier wanted to win: “It’s always been
a dream of mine to win this stage in a
World Rally Car and now I did it. It was
truly amazing, I think I can even go a
bit quicker for the second passing.”
The smile on his face said more than
words. And he kept his promise as the
second time on the stage was a staggering 18 seconds faster than the first
time.
Neuville vs Østberg
The real breath-taking battle was between teammates Neuville and Østberg. This duel was settled on the second Ouninpohja stage. Østberg had
to take avoiding action to miss a rock
on the road. He ended in the scenery for a moment and lost some time.
Neuville saw the rock too but was a
bit luckier. So for the second time in
succession he was second. Is a win
now within reach? “I feel good and so
does the car but for a win Ogier must
hit some trouble otherwise he is simply
too fast.”
Conclusion
Finland taught us that Volkswagen is
still very much on top of it, but Ford is
not leaving it to that. Both their youngsters Østberg and Neuville are very
well up to the job. Novikov could be,
but in Finland he again had one of his
infamous offs. This time he lost the
battle with a pile of logs that characteristically lining the Finnish roads. At Citroën team principal Matton was obviously disappointed, but main sponsor
Khalid Al-Qassimi was a bit more positive: “Chris Meeke did an excellent job.
He matched Mikko’s pace and was
considerably faster than Dani. It was
a pity he went off in the last part of the
rally, but we have to consider putting
him in a WRC again.”
The battle for the championship might
be over (We don’t see someone beating Ogier and Volkswagen in this
form.) But the fight is till going on. So
we expect an interesting second half
of the season, starring Ogier and Latvala but also Neuville and Østberg
and we hope Hirvonen. Perhaps Chris
Meeke will get another chance but that
would be bad news for Dani Sordo.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the speed of Neuville. The young Belgian pushed
Ogier and Ostberg all the way.
14/32
Once again the star of the show was Ogier who’s now in full control of the championship. He can claim the title at the next round in Germany.
Happy faces at the Powerstage finish, for the first time though, no Finnish driver on
the final podium in Jyvaskyla.