Press Release

30/07/2010 

Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala heads the leaderboard on his home round of the FIA World Rally Championship and, at the end of the first of only two days of competition, the Ford driver holds a 9.1 second advantage. Norwegian Petter Solberg finished the day in second position with Sébastien Ogier, nominated for the Citroën Total World Rally Team on this event, third overall.
 
Rally Finland got underway last night with the opening super special stage in the city of Jyväskylä, where Solberg set the pace in his privately-run Citroën C4. Today, however, the crews headed into the forests for high speed action that is synonymous with this 60-year-old event. Local hero Mikko Hirvonen immediately took control, the Finn winning the first two stages to claim a slim 4.9 second lead. However, in stage four, he crashed and rolled heavily, putting an end to dreams of a second consecutive home victory.
 
Solberg subsequently took the lead and the Norwegian held off Latvala for the following two stages before being overhauled by the Finn. The battle at the top of the leaderboard has been intense throughout the day and Ogier, who started the day in fifth position, has battled hard with his fellow Citroën drivers to climb to third overnight. Reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb struggled this morning when he damaged the front bumper on his C4, seriously affecting the aerodynamics of the car. He recovered from fifth position to fourth by the end of the day, just 11.7 seconds ahead of Dani Sordo. Britain’s Matthew Wilson is sixth overnight with former Finnish World Champion Juha Kankkunen in seventh. The three-time winner of Rally Finland has not contested his home event since 2002 and has been battling former Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen throughout the day. The two are split by 7.5 seconds overnight. Henning Solberg joined Hirvonen on the sidelines today, the Norwegian also rolling his Focus.
 
Rally Finland - Results after Day 1