****Neste Oil Rally Finland****

[OmerRS]

Evet sonunda sezonun en sevilen yarışına geldik. az önce süper spesyal geçildi atkinson lider ilk etap sonunda.

[OmerRS]

eee finlandiya rallisine ilgi bu kadar mı ?

ilk gün sonuçları.

http://www.wrc.com/page/StageTimes/0...200707,00.html

[OmerRS]

Ford drivers dominate at home

The Finn drivers of the official Ford team have taken the lead of their home World Rally Championship event.

At the end of the first leg, Rally Finland favorite Marcus Grönholm has settled his Focus car at the top of the rankings, 4.4 seconds ahead of his team mate and fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen.

Sébastien Loeb did everything he could to maintain contact with the Ford duo, but the works Citroën driver presently stands 20.2 seconds away from his championship rival. Nothing is over before it is over, of course, but if the Ford drivers encounter no difficulties, Loeb's best expectations are a place on the bottom step of the podium.

Grönholm in total confidence
Marcus Grönholm seems to know the Rally Finland scenario by heart. A six-time winner of his national event, he started out with great confidence, managed his performances well and knew how to respond to his worthy team mate's attacks.

The battle of the Ford duo was fought by tenths of seconds, with the most experienced of the two coming out ahead for the time being. Grönholm's advantage is weak however, since a lead counting less than five seconds will force him to continue attacking on Saturday.

"This has been a very good day and very tight," said Marcus.
"I was expecting that Mikko could even be in front of me at the end of the day because of my position on the road, so I ** happy to be leading."

Mikko Hirvonen is a serious contender, as he was actually leading the rally before Grönholm took over. After losing the top spot, he would remain close by and intends to fight again over the second leg.

"We are very happy with our day. We have been equal with Marcus in every stage," Hirvonen delcared. "These Friday stages are the ones which I know the best. I know that tomorrow will be more difficult for us. Still, I will fight until the end."

Loeb holds on to the podium
As he tried to stay within reach of the Ford drivers, Sébastien Loeb took every risk. The Citroën Sport driver even recognised having barely avoided spinning out and going off several times during today's stages.

Even after trying every trick he knew, the situation was quite apparent: the works Ford cars are quicker on these grounds. The difference isn't overwhelming and the distance isn't enormous, but those few tenths of seconds lost here and there have accumulated to a 20.2-second gap.



"It is obvious that we cannot keep the pace of the Fords. We are doing our best but even when I do a perfect stage without any mistakes there is nothing to do," said the World Champion.

Referring to his previous mount, Loeb added: "It is obvious that the C4 is more competitive than the Xsara but the Focus has made one step forward."

Sébastien Loeb's team mate Dani Sordo has less experience with this environment, and that can make things quite difficult in Finland. However, the Spaniard has a good feeling about his C4, and that was enough to allow him to hold on to a sixth overall position. "The car balances very well and I like that very much," he reported.

Constant progress at Subaru
After winning the inaugural super special stage Thursday evening, Chris Atkinson maintained the pace all day Friday. If he did not hold on to the Fords, he is nonetheless in fourth position on the leaderboard, though 46.9 seconds away.

"This morning we had overspin which became worse because we lost the front differential. This has been adjusted although we still have it," he explained.

"We have made some mistakes but we are pushing a bit hard. A podium seems a bit far though," Atkinson admitted.



Petter Solberg was quite openly frustrated at the end of the first leg, since his car was also suffering from a differential problem that made the Norwegian feel as if he was dring a two-wheel-drive. Much time was lost before the engineers fixed the problem during a service break.

Solberg then went on the attack, claiming fifth overall place by the end of the day, 10.4 seconds behind his team mate.

"We are struggling in there for traction but we will have to see if we can do something with the car for tomorrow," explained Petter Solberg, adding: "The car is a hundred times better than this morning."

Henning and Manfred in the points
At the Stobart Ford team, Jari-Matta Latvala had a great start as he won the day's first stage and took the rally lead. He would afterwards commit a slight mistake after being distracted by a piece of rubber lining coming loose in his car.

Later on during the day, he would slide over a ditch and break his car's rear right wishbone, tearing off a wheel in the process. The rollcage was also damaged, thereby forcing Latvala to retire from the remainder of his home rally.

Team mate Henning Solberg felt he needed to get back into competition in order to renew with his Ford Focus car, especially since he had not fully participated in the pre-rally trials. He did however better his pace as the day went on, reaching seventh place in the general rankings.

Manfred Stohl's objective is to finish the rally in the points zone, a mission that is for the time being on its way to accomplishment since the Austrian has set his OMV Kronos Citroën Xsara in eighth place.

Two Mitsubishi Lancers complete the top 10 positions of Rally Finland's first leg, those of Juho Hanninen and Urmo Aava.

Aava's position might be at stake during the next stages, as Subaru's Xevi Pons is running only 0.9 second behind...

[OmerRS]

Setting the stage for tomorrow



The Surkee stage's very technical and narrow layout is a good occasion to commit mistakes. Most drivers might decide to speed through in a relatively careful manner -unless a goal is still attainable!

Once again both Ford drivers were competing at almost equal pace, and once again Mikko Hirvonen crossed the line slightly faster than rally leader Marcus Grönholm as only a half-second separates them.

Hirvonen's best time was set at 8'13"6. "It has been a fantastic day today and I ** pushing but Marcus is in a class of his own," he said.

"I'm really satisfied. Even though Marcus has been faster all the time, the gap is small," Hirvonen added, hinting at an all-out attack tomorrow.

Grönholm however feels confident at the end of Rally Finland's second leg: "I have had a good day today and I'm taking it steady without taking too many risks now," he said, but he might wish to revise that statement in light of his team mate's previous comment!

Sébastien Loeb rolled in next, taking third place for this stage. The Citroën Sport driver seems ready to throw in the towel in Finland: "I ** too slow now to catch the Fords so for me the race is over and I expect to finish third. It is the best I can do in this situation.
"

"I tried hard all day but it's impossible, so now we'll try to do some testing for next time," Loeb shared.

Fourth position went to Subaru's Chris Atkinson, 17 seconds down the line. "We pushed hard early this morning and now we are consolidating without taking risks, just trying to get through," he announced. "Even driving at only 95 percent, it's still not easy."

Very close behind was Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg, who now feels up to par with the drivers who spent time testing in Finland before the rally began. "It has worked well today and I ** very happy," said the stage's fifth-placed driver.

"Without testing before this rally the only way to learn was under competitive conditions. That is why I ** getting quicker as the day goes on," he explained.

Urmo Aava came out of this trail quite pleased after bringing his Mitsubishi Lancer up to sixth position, thereby reaching a part of his objective. "The pacenotes for this stage were really good so I took seven seconds out of Xavier in here," he reported.

Mads Ostberg came next at the wheel of his Adapta Subaru, followed by Jan Kopecky's Czech Rally Team Skoda.

Subaru Team newcomer Xevi Pons took ninth place, quite happy with the day's results. "The car is really good and I have no problems so far," he enthused. "It's a surprise for me to be in sixth place (overall)!"

Andreas Mikkelsen showed up in tenth position after a little bit of sightseeing. "We went the wrong way in a junction and had to spin round which cost us a few seconds but, hey, that is rallying!"

Marcus Grönholm ends the second leg of his home rally with a 20.4-second overall lead on Mikko Hirvonen, with only three stages on the schedule tomorrow. Sébastien Loeb has passed a minute's delay on the leader – he now stands 1'00"5 behind. Chris Atkinson and Henning Solberg are well settled in fourth and fifth positions.

Rally Finland will resume tomorrow morning on three unique and very different trails, over which Marcus Grönholm will attempt to accomplish a record-breaking seventh win on home soil.

[OmerRS]

2. gün sonuçları:

http://www.wrc.com/page/StageTimes/0...200707,00.html

[OmerRS]

Yarış sonuçları:

http://www.wrc.com/page/StageTimes/0...200707,00.html

[Gti]

Son bi kaç etabı izledim Finlandia izlemesi zevkli bi rally marcus baya iyiydi 24 sn olmuş en son sanırm

[OmerRS]

nerden izledin olm nerde veriyor? netten mi diyosun yoksa wrc.com dan?

[Gti]

Eurosport veriyodu valla sabah

[OmerRS]

dünkü etaplardı onlar ya. bende izledim. marcus kral mikke da çok iyi gidiyor aslında. loeb e 1.10 dakika fark attılar