Meeke dominates Finland
Kris Meeke is the first Brit and only the sixth non-Nordic winner of the Finnish rally
NNORTHERN IRISHMAN Kris Meeke dominated the Neste Rally of Finland in his Citroen DS 3. Meeke, who is not driving the full championship this year, won his second rally of the season after his first career win coming in Portugal in May. Meeke led the entire rally right from the first stage as he dominated the prestigious Finnish stages to set a new record for the fastest rally completion time in WRC history. He beat the previous record set twelve months ago, at the very same rally, by Jari-Matti Latvala becoming the first Brit to ever win the rally.
Latvala led the Volkswagen charge but was bested by Meeke as the Finnish rally driver finished 29 seconds behind Meeke. Latvala had suffered a puncture on one of the opening stages which cost him 15 seconds. Even in the legendary Ouninpohja stage, known for its massive jumps and fast sweeping corners, Meeke took top honours from Latvala by over 13 seconds. However Meeke had the advantage of running eighth on the road while the front-runners like Latvala and Ogier (who was running first on the road) had the unenviable task of sweeping the roads clean and thus had no chance of competing for the victory.
Joining Meeke and Latvala on the podium was Ireland’s Craig Breen in the other Citroen DS 3. Breen, a former Junior WRC champion, finished a minute and twelve seconds behind Meeke to take third in his fourth start in the DS 3.
The Hyundai duo of Thierry Neuville and Haydon Paddon completed the top five as both drivers complained of the car’s handling throughout the entire rally.
Mads Ostberg brought the first Ford Fiesta RS home in sixth followed by Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen who had many off-course moments in his VW Polo WRC in the rally.
Esapekka Lappi, Kevin Abbring and Teemu Suninen rounded off the top ten.
Championship leader Sebastien Ogier failed to score points as he slid into a ditch on Friday’s stages losing 16 minutes while spectators pulled his car back on the road. He still holds a massive 45 points lead over teammate Mikkelsen in the championship.