WRC – Hirvonen: Loeb was simply faster 

Mikko Hirvonen remained in contact with his teammate Sébastien Loeb during the three stages of Rally from Finland but the Alsatian kept the lead from start to finish despite the pressure exerted by the Finn who failed just six seconds from first place. The former Ford driver can only recognize the superiority of his rival. “I have no excuses, Sébastien was six seconds faster and that’s it. I didn't make any mistakes, there's nothing to say. I chose to start cautiously because my rally ended prematurely during the last two editions and I didn't want that to happen again. I have to learn for next year. »

The local driver, however, distinguished himself at the end of the event by carrying out a full attack in the two passages of Ouninpohja to catch Sébastien Loeb. The Finn even beat Petter Solberg's record set in 1 with the Subaru Impreza by 2"2004 WRC, at the same time signing the scratch of the Power Stage. But his performances remained insufficient to regain his 9” deficit. “I took some risks because you have to attack hard here. I was very satisfied with my car, as was Sébastien. Although we broke the record in the Ouninpohja special, this course has never been easy. We therefore attacked while maintaining a margin of safety. We could attack more but the risks would have increased and it could have ended badly and we didn't want to end that way. I hoped to catch up with him by tackling these last two passages but I passed very close to the ditches. I had to be careful and I couldn't go as fast as I wanted. It was from that moment on that I no longer believed I could take it up regularly. I can’t wait to return to Germany with Citroën for our first asphalt event after Monaco. I had good feelings during the tests. »

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Finland carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.