Hirvonen talks about his accident

The Finn may be disappointed. The Ford Focus had not been at this level since the Rally of New Zealand and the victory of Jari-Matti Latvala. Hirvonen, taking advantage of a road swept by the competitors, had a lead of 4 seconds over Petter Solberg, before abandoning in a turn following a jump (see video). All the hopes of BP Ford Abu Dhabi now rest on the team?s second Finnish driver, who has regained the lead of the race.

But team principal Malcolm Wilson knows that the last hopes for Hirvonen are gone with this retirement. “ It will be very difficult now », confessed Wilson. “ It was the biggest accident I have ever seen but it will come back. It was a very violent accident, as they often are in Finland and I am relieved that both are OK. His performance was really satisfying. He was better than last year and I'm happy to see him back on track. »

The Finn was also satisfied with the pace found in this event. Despite the very violent accident (occurring at 140km/h) that the crew suffered, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were not injured. “ The landing was clean, well in the middle of the road but it was quite violent », Commented the Finn. “ It happened so quickly, I couldn't do anything. We came straight into an embankment and rolled down the road, up a hill, for a long time. The speed wasn't very high but I still knew we were lucky to be on four wheels. The dream is over and it?s just a disappointment ».

But the driver does not seem to have been disturbed by this outing and is already thinking about future events. “ At least we had the right pace and we were leading the race well. That's a good point. An accident like this won't distract me or intimidate me. It's over and we will go to the next rallies to try to be as fast as we were here. There are several rallies left to do and we will try to do everything we can in these events. We were in the lead and I want to get back there as soon as possible. We will see (For victory) in Germany but be sure we will try. »

BP Ford Abu Dhabi can console itself with the provisional first place of Jari-Matti Latvala, at the end of the first day. But the Finn will open the road tomorrow and risks losing time cleaning the track. He will do everything to protect his 10 seconds lead over Citroën private driver Petter Solberg.