Nasser Al-Attiyah was third in the PWRC category, 4 minute 31 seconds off the lead, while Simone Campedelli and Stepan Vojtech completed the top five.
Mark Higgins, who led the PWRC category for much of the event, did not finish. He rolled out on the final stage on Saturday, throwing away a 30-second lead and his hopes of taking the PWRC title.
Of the rest,
Henning Solberg finished 16th after going off the road on day 1 in SS8. He re-started on Saturday under the SupeRally and picked up three manufacturers’ points for his efforts. Those points, combined with the 6 scored by Latvala, moves the
Stobart team up to third in the manufacturers’, 1 point ahead of
Subaru.
Subaru’s
Chris Atkinson was also classified thanks to the SupeRally, despite having to sit out the final day due to an internal engine problem. He picked up two manufacturers’ points as a result.
As for the retirees, in addition to Gronholm, fellow ‘works’ runners, Xavier Pons and Manfred Stohl both failed to get to the end.
Like Gronholm, they had offs which forced them out. Pons went out in the same test as Gronholm, SS4, while Stohl crashed out on Saturday in SS13.
A number of other notable drivers’ went out too, including multiple Irish Tarmac champion, Eugene Donnelly, who was sidelined with mechanical issues on day 1, as well as Kris Meeke, Andrew Nesbitt, Gareth Jones, Ray Breen and Tim McNulty.
The
FIA World Rally Championship now heads to Wales for the season finale in two weeks time, which runs from November 30 to December 2.
