Suzuki's Junior Rally Championship star,
Urmo Aava put in a stunning performance on the Rally Finland at the weekend to bring his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 home in seventh place overall.
Aava, who had only competed in the Mitsubishi twice before this event and only once in the WRC - having finished in 14th place on the Acropolis - moved up into the top eight on Saturday afternoon, by which time he was on a roll, setting nine top ten stages times in all the remaining tests.
In the end he finished 39.1 seconds behind
Subaru works driver, Xavier Pons, who was sixth and all-in-all he had every reason to be pleased.
Speaking at the finish, he reckoned that his recent outing on the Otepaa Ralli, the latest round of the domestic series in Estonia, in which he won with the Lancer, was the key to his success.
"The win on the Otepaa Ralli was the perfect preparation for this. The car has been very good for us on this rally, we've had no problems,” he said. “The only small thing we have problem with here has been the pace notes. In some stages, they have been very good, but in some stages we have really struggled with them.
“I am very happy with the result, though. It is a very good result for us and I would have never believed I could get as high as seventh. I have really enjoyed my time in a WRC car and we now go to Germany and back to the [Suzuki Swift] Super 1600 [and my bid to win the JRC title].”
Aava's form was well timed too, especially as Suzuki will step up to the ‘senior level' with their new Suzuki SX4 WRC car next year, doing two events this season in France and GB as part of their preparations.
The fact they have yet to confirm their drivers' could mean the 28-year-old is in with a shout, his form in Finland certainly won't have done him any harm – that is for sure.
