Finland - leg 3: Gronholm sets new WRC record.

Sunday, 5th August 2007

Rally Finland - Day 3 report: Gronholm and Ford dominate in Finland, as new 2007 spec Focus shines on debut.

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Mads Ostberg took the final WRC points in eighth in his Adapta-run Subaru Impreza WRC and despite big problems in the final test, when he had only front-wheel drive and lost 30 odd seconds, he managed to hold off Britain’s Guy Wilks, who was ninth, just 7.5 seconds behind.

Wilks enjoyed a strong event and would almost certainly have got his first point of the season with his Ramsport-run Focus, if it wasn’t for the fact he suffered a heavy landing in SS16 on Saturday and then lost all the hydraulics. As a result of that he slipped back on the final loop and he also injured his back and was in considerable pain for a bit.

Stobart third driver, Matthew Wilson completed the top ten, 1min 30secs off Wilks, while Munchi’s Ford team leader, Luis-Perez Companc was eleventh followed by Andreas Mikkelsen, Kaj Kuistila and his team-mate, Federico Villagra. Despite a ‘moment’ in the final test, Villagra made it to the end and picked up 2 manufacturers’ points, which combined with Companc’s three, increased the team’s tally to six.

Of the others Patrik Flodin took the Group N win in his Impreza, also 15th overall, while BP Ford third driver, Khalid Al Qassimi brought his Focus home one spot behind on his first outing with the team.

In the Junior Rally Championship category, Patrik Sandell took the class win, finishing more than a minute up on fellow Renault Clio R3 runner, Kalle Pinomaki.

Michal Kosciuszko completed the JRC podium in his Suzuki Swift, with Conrad Rautenbach fourth and Tapio Suominen fifth.

Citroen’s Martin Prokop had dominated the JRC category on day one, but he went off the road on Saturday in SS14 and retired.

A number of drivers’ had problems during this event and of the ‘works’ aces, four failed to make it to the end, namely Jari-Matti Latvala, Manfred Stohl, Daniel Sordo and Petter Solberg.