WRC Rally Finland: Total Chaos!

The race known as the "gravel Grand Prix" wrapped up this weekend with spectacular results. Sebastien Loeb went into this rally hoping to beat out the "Flying Finns" who’ve dominated this particular race for the past 7 years, and with cutthroat precision and a definitive style, Loeb was able to do just that, with Mikko Hirvonen hot on his heels just 16 seconds back and Chris Atkinson from Subaru rounding out the top three. It was a big weekend for Atkinson, proving the new three-event-old Subaru is a force to be reckoned with. They couldn’t have been happier over at the Suzuki SX4 camp, whose Toni Gardemeister finished 8th overall despite his near-miss on Day 2.

However, the race wasn’t without its share of fiasco. Privateer Urmo Aava took a corner a little too wide and ended up in the unforgiving trees on the first day, along with Jari-Matti Latvala, who missed a rock in his pace notes the day before but found it on race day, breaking his suspension and destroying any chance for the lead. Gardemeister must have prayed to the rally gods before the race, as a close call nearly cost him the rally when his car caught an edge and nearly flipped over. More…

More action followed down the leader board on the second day, when Jari-Matti went in the ditch after cutting a corner too tightly, ending his rally. Hennig Solberg, clearly pushing Ford Focus to the limit, almost went off when he slid his back tire over the edge of the main race line. Giggi Galli wasn’t so lucky on that corner and ended up rolling his Focus deep into the Finnish forest, bringing his day to an end. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, PG Andersson crashed on the same corner, taking out a tree in the process. Luckily no spectators were harmed in any of these crashes. Finally, Andreas Aigner decided to go fishing instead of finishing the Finnish event, parking the front of his Mitsubishi in a lake.

That’s all for the Rally Finland. Stay tuned, because the always-exciting Rally Germany is only a fortnight away!