"I was lucky that the car slid rather than went straight on because there was a big drop off the edge. I knew we weren't going to get round and the concrete blocks aren't that soft around here.

"There was a small fire because fluid dripped onto the exhaust. The wheel was ripped off and bounced onto the roof of a house which was just below the level of the road. It bounced back onto the mountainside before rebounding onto the wall of the house and missing the kitchen window by about half a metre. It damaged a few tiles on the roof but the owner wasn't angry - he was quite excited by it all!"

BP Ford team director, Malcolm Wilson meanwhile said Mikko's off on day 1 was an 'uncharacteristic error'. He was pleased though with how the 27-year-old kept pushing on days 2 and 3, especially as it meant the 'Blue Oval' picked up an extra manufacturers' point.

"Mikko completed a remarkable fight-back today to take the final manufacturers' point on the last stage after being as low as 63rd. It was a gritty performance at a time of the year when every point counts," he summed-up.