Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg is out of Day 2 of Rally Finland after sustaining suspension damage to his car on the second stage of the day. But team mate Matthew Wilson is now just outside the points, moving up another place this morning to secure ninth.
Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud had the best possible start to the day as they overhauled Finnish driver Matti Rantanen to move up to fifth place. But around 10kms into SS12 Himos, Solberg’s Rally Finland challenge was brought to a halt as he sustained damage to the front suspension at a slow hairpin corner. This resulted in the driveshaft coming loose, leaving the car with no drive and forcing the Norwegians out of the second day action.
Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin also had an excellent start to the day as they moved ahead of Jari Ketomaa into ninth place after SS11 Leustu. The Brit, enjoying the extra grip on the rain-soaked stages, continued his tussle with Ketomaa over the next two tests with the local man just gaining the upper hand. But Wilson remains in ninth place and will aim to move his way into the points this afternoon after making some minor changes to his car and improving his pacenotes. The crews will return for a second pass of this morning’s three-stage loop before heading to a new loop of three stages for the final section of the day.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg said:
“I am really disappointed to be out today. Things had been going really well this morning and we had moved ahead of Rantanen on the first stage which was one of my main goals for the day. The suspension broke at a slow hairpin corner and the damage was just too bad to continue. I hope that we will be able to return tomorrow and SupeRally but the team will have to assess the car first.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Matthew Wilson said:
“It is surprising how good the grip is out on the stages. The overnight rain has bound the gravel together and it feels like there is a lot more grip than yesterday. I didn’t realise how good it was on the first stage and I was too cautious for the first few kilometres, but once I realised we pushed on. We’ve been changing quite a few notes for the second pass but I’ve got a bit of snap oversteer which has been unnerving on the fast sections. My engineer will hopefully be able to fix that in service. The roads are much softer than yesterday so the stages could rut up a bit more on the second pass.”
Leaderboard after SS13
1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen(FIN) Ford Focus RS 1h32m50.0s
2. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroën C4 +10.9s
3. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) Citroën C4 +52.8s
4. J-M Latvala/M Anttila (FIN) Ford Focus RS +1m01.1s
5. M Rantanen/M Lukka Ford Focus RS +2m32.9s
6. M Östberg/J Andersson (NOR) Subaru Impreza +3m21.4s
7. S Ogier/J Ingrassia (FRA) Citroën C4 +3m35.2s
8. J Ketomaa/M Stenberg (FIN) Subaru Impreza +3m43.5s
9. M Wilson/S Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS +3m56.9s
17. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR) Ford Focus RS +11m39.6s
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