In contrast to Friday’s bright and sunny conditions, light rain was falling in Jyvaskyla as crews left the Service Park this morning. It was drizzling sixty kilometres away on the opening Leustu stage too - enough to create puddles on the road.
A bit of rain was welcome news for rally leader Mikko Hirvonen who is first on the road again today. The damp conditions helped bind the top layer of the gravel together, providing more grip and lessening the cleaning effect which benefits the cars following.
The Ford Focus RS WRC driver was first to arrive at the stop control. “It’s a fantastic stage and it was good for me - the grip is good and I’m happy with the set-up,” said Hirvonen before making his way to SS11.
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Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb completed the 21.35km stage 2.2sec slower. “I had a good drive, it would be difficult for me to do better,” he said. “It’s difficult to find the confidence again - I had a good drive but Mikko is fast. In some places the rain had made the conditions better but in other places there are water splashes, mud and it’s very slippery.” WRC
Last year it was Loeb who set the early pace to hang on for the overall “1000 Lakes” win here, but Hirvonen is bent on keeping his nose in front through to the finish.
“Today’s my birthday so I asked Seb to give me a minute advantage - but I only got four seconds,” joked the 29-year-old ahead of the final stage which saw Loeb barely trim that tiny gap.
Loeb said he was revelling in a “good fight”.
He said: “Now Mikko has four seconds so I’ll try my best. You have to be completely confident here. Finland is not my favourite rally - it?s very specific and fast and dangerous - but the feeling is good and when you see it’s this close you know it?s a really tough battle.”
Fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo stood in third place 20sec behind Loeb after losing precious seconds in the middle of special stage nine while Finn Jari-Matti Latvala was 10sec further back in fourth spot. AFP
“I’m leading my home rally on my birthday - things don’t get much better,” said Hirvonen.
“This time last year I was 14 seconds behind Loeb so that’s a big improvement. I’m feeling confident but I know that I must continue to push because he is only a few seconds away and won’t give up.”
“I prefer it that way because it’s really enjoyable to be driving flat out and fighting for tenths of a second.”
“Now that the battle is on I don’t feel as relaxed as yesterday, but that was to be expected. I thought the first two stages of each loop would be harder for me but, ironically, they were the two tests on which I was fastest.”
“I made a few small mistakes this afternoon but nothing serious. Tomorrow is a big, big day and I must be prepared.” Yahoo Eurosports
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