Co-drivers find Finland a pain in the butt.

A number of the WRC's top co-drivers were made to suffer on the Rally Finland Friday, when the first run through the new 33 kilometre stage from Vellipohja, left many of them with rib and back pain. One jump in particular - about 10 kilometres in - seemed to catch-out a number of the drivers including rally leader, Marcus Gronholm and his nearest rival for the win, Sebastien Loeb.

Co-drivers find Finland a pain in the butt.

A number of the WRC's top co-drivers were made to suffer on the Rally Finland Friday, when the first run through the new 33 kilometre stage from Vellipohja, left many of them with rib and back pain. One jump in particular - about 10 kilometres in - seemed to catch-out a number of the drivers including rally leader, Marcus Gronholm and his nearest rival for the win, Sebastien Loeb.

During the recce the jump had looked deceptively gentle but at speed the cars were launched nearly three metres into the air and as such, with less opportunity to brace themselves, the co-drivers tended to come off worse...

Gronholm's co-driver, Timo Rautiainen, had such severe pain in his back that Marcus radioed the team to say he was not sure if they would be able to continue. However, while he had to make do without any notes for the remainder of the test and the following short run through Mokkipera - SS6, Rautiainen was fixed up in Service C and following treatment by the team doctor and osteopath he felt well enough to continue.

"At the end of the first leg we are right up where we wanted to be, despite the scare we had in SS5 when Marcus's 307 WRC landed heavily after a crest," reflected Peugeot boss, Jean-Pierre Nicolas at the end of the day. "Timo suffered from a backache so severe that he could not read the notes for the rest of that stage or the next one. Luckily our doctor, Dr. Khaled Ouabacche from Mondial Assistance, together with our physio Alex Beraha, were able to restore Timo to health within the half-hour allotted for service."

Rautiainen was not the only one to suffer, and in addition to Loeb's co-driver, Daniel Elena, Ford privateer runner, Henning Solberg, who lies ninth overnight, reported that his co-pilot, Cato Menkerud, also didn't like it very much.

"Cato was screaming in pain for about 1km," reported Henning, when asked about that jump, "and so I didn't have any pace notes. It was a day of ups and downs!"

Menkerud took some painkillers to enable him to continue and is now due to receive intensive physiotherapy tonight.

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