Teemu Suninen will not leave on Friday

His tempo was impressive to the point of aiming for the scratch time of the first special of the Rally Monte Carlo. But on a section made very slippery by the rain of the day not far from Gap, Teemu suninen lost control of his Ford Fiesta, hitting the outer embankment before rolling over and ending its course below the road.

An unwelcome antics for the Finn, who is only playing a partial program with M-Sport Ford in 2021 and was necessarily counting on this event to put itself forward. His return tomorrow in Rally 2 remains uncertain given the possible damage to the Fiesta.

“Until this point, everything was going well and I had a good feeling with the car, underlines Suninen. On this turn, I lost the line, hit the embankment and we went out. It’s a shame the season is starting like this. I don't think the car is ready for Rally 2, from what I've seen the roll cage is affected. »

The M-Sport mechanics were able to study the exact condition of the Fiesta in detail and Teemu Suninen will not be able to leave tomorrow. " We have worked so hard over the last four weeks to be here, not counting the four days of testing, comments Team Principal Richard Millener.

It's disappointing. It was good to see these partials, but the intention was to take both cars to the finish. After everything we’ve done, this is a real “jaw hook.” Probably the barrel wasn't too bad on the embankment, but it all depends on the damage after hitting the tree.

I'm not taking away the fact that he (Teemu) was doing a great job in the stage, but we said right before we left that it was a long rally. »