Mikko Hirvonen took a solid if unspectacular fourth place in the other
BP Ford Focus RS WRC. Mikko tried to push on Saturday to close up on his team-mate and the Citroens, but in the end slipped further back and finally finished nearly 1.5 minutes off Seb and 46 seconds off Gronholm.
Next up was
Francois Duval on just his second outing with the OMV Kronos
Citroen squad.
Much was expected from the Belgian after his performance in Germany, when he ran right at the front of the pack before eventually finishing second. However he was unable to repeat that form this time out - although there were flashes of speed from him when things went well, including one stage win and an additional four top three times. Duval will now be hoping for better in Corsica.
Petter Solberg brought his
Subaru home in sixth albeit 25 seconds behind Duval and nearly 3 minutes off the eventual winner.
Despite being unable to match the front runners though ‘Hollywood’ was reasonably content and reckons that they have taken a ‘good step forward’, even though he managed only seven top-five stage times from a possible 18.
Stobart Ford’s
Jari-Matti Latvala and
Chris Atkinson rounded out the points’ scorers in seventh and eighth, the former growing in confidence as the event wore on.
Of the rest, Subaru third driver, Xavier Pons was ninth on his home event - 40 seconds off Atkinson in the sister Impreza, and then came
Henning Solberg, who was competing in Spain for the very first time.
Matthew Wilson finished just outside the top ten in eleven, while fellow Ford runners, Thomas Schie, Munchi’s man,
Federico Villagra and BP Ford ‘third’ man, Khalid Al-Qassimi completed the top 14.
In the
FIA Junior World Rally Championship category Per-Gunnar Andersson took the win in his
Suzuki Swift having taken over at the head of the class on Saturday when his team-mate,
Urmo Aava lost time with a puncture.
P-G eventually took the honours by 33.9 seconds, with Citroen C2 runner, Martin Prokop second, just ahead of Aava, who finished 6 seconds further back.
