Briton Greensmith chasing victory in Finland after unlucky start to the season
Gus Greensmith is hoping to underline his class leading pace in Finland this weekend after two consecutive retirements in the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy.
The Jyvaskyla-based event is the third round of the DDFT season, but the second opportunity for landing two works WRC2 drives next season. This year’s DDFT is split into pairs of scoring rounds and Finland scores will be added to the results from Rally Poland earlier this month.
Three of the top four places going into Finland are held by British drivers, with Jon Armstrong winning in Mikolajki, Osian Pryce second and Greensmith fourth. The Manchester driver is, however, determined to deliver on his potential.
“We’ve been quick, I’ve led the events and set fastest times,” he said. “Now I want to win. It’s what we’re here for. I’ve been put out of contention on the last two events by something out of my control, but all of that’s behind us – the focus is on Finland now.”
Pryce secured the first two prize drives in Poland and admits this week will be among the biggest tests of his career.
“Finland’s a really big deal for all of us,” said the Welshman. “The pace will be as fast as anything we’ve done, but at the same time we have to keep an eye on the bigger picture in terms of points.”
Armstrong is odds on for the prize drive in Finland after his Poland victory, and remains bullish despite not visiting Finland before.
“We had never been to Poland before and managed to win there so here should be a similar approach,” said Armstrong. “If I’m too careful we could easily drop down the order on this event.” ● Britain’s Louise Cook returns to WRC action for the first time in four years this week. The 29-year-old drives a Fiesta R2 in Finland.