Flying Fins? Forget about it, what you need is some flying Frenchmen. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have shown their skill by leading the fastest rally of the WRC on day two.
The duo, which leads both the driver and co-driver competitions in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), won seven of yesterday’s nine stages, opening a 38.1 second lead over rival drivers from Ford.
“More than 30 seconds is really a good lead over the second-placed driver, but the rally still has a long way to go. This is particularly true as the legendary ‘Ouninpohja’ special stage still awaits us twice tomorrow – for me the absolute highlight of this weekend. I can hardly wait to finally drive here in a World Rally Car. Today was great for us. We put our foot down, but did not push ourselves right to the very limit. The roads were very rough and difficult, particularly in the afternoon. The risk of getting a puncture was simply too great for an unconditional attack. Picking up points towards the World Championship are obviously the top priority, but I want to try to fulfill my dream of winning the Rally Finland for the first time,” said Ogier
Yesterday’s racing was not as good for their teammates in the number 9 Polo, as Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula damaged their suspension. They started today’s racing with a 5 minute penalty, which puts them out of contention.
“More than 30 seconds is really a good lead over the second-placed driver, but the rally still has a long way to go. This is particularly true as the legendary ‘Ouninpohja’ special stage still awaits us twice tomorrow – for me the absolute highlight of this weekend. I can hardly wait to finally drive here in a World Rally Car. Today was great for us. We put our foot down, but did not push ourselves right to the very limit. The roads were very rough and difficult, particularly in the afternoon. The risk of getting a puncture was simply too great for an unconditional attack. Picking up points towards the World Championship are obviously the top priority, but I want to try to fulfill my dream of winning the Rally Finland for the first time,” said Ogier
Yesterday’s racing was not as good for their teammates in the number 9 Polo, as Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula damaged their suspension. They started today’s racing with a 5 minute penalty, which puts them out of contention.