BP Ford Abu Dhabi's
Jari-Matti Latvala was left pretty frustrated at the end of the Jordan Rally after only finishing in seventh place in his Focus RS WRC07.
Latvala went into the final leg well placed to challenge for the victory and was running in P1, following the first stage of the day, ever so slightly in front of his team-mate,
Mikko Hirvonen.
Unfortunately for the 23-year-old however, he had hit a rock in that test and his rear left suspension gave way as a result in the next one.
Although he worked feverishly with co-driver Miikka Anttila to bind the suspension together sufficiently for the next marathon 41.45 kilometre stage - the longest of the event - and did a superb job to simply complete the test, the problem cost him around ten minutes dropping him to eighth.
While he managed to claim seventh during the final loop, he was still disappointed not to get more points having seemingly been all but guaranteed a podium slot at the very least.
"In the morning's first stage I hit a rock, but felt nothing," he explained. "Halfway through the next test the support link in the rear left suspension snapped.
"After the stage we tried to strap the suspension together but it wouldn't hold and I had to drive many kilometres with the tyre bent in. I was lucky to get back [to service].
"I had two perfect days on Friday and Saturday but today was a long one. I need to be more consistent and concentrate without making mistakes. I'm disappointed not to score more points."
BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT 'third' driver Khalid Al-Qassimi meanwhile also had a frustrating conclusion to the round, the fifth in the series.
Indeed while he took ninth, his best finish to date in the World Rally Championship, he could have been in front of Latvala had he not suffered two punctures in the final stage and lost around 8 minutes.
"I'm happy but also a little disappointed because I suffered two flat tyres on the last stage when I was fighting for a drivers' point," he stated. "I had to stop and fix both tyres, which cost me lots of time.
"I've never been in a points scoring position before and unfortunately luck wasn't on my side."
