HUTTUNEN HELD BACK ON RALLY1 DEBUT
Jari Huttunen was restricted to ninth overall on his Rally1 debut after a technical issue struck his Ford Puma nearing the finish of Rally Finland’s first leg last Friday.
The Finn, 28, acquitted himself well on his first full day in a hybridpowered Rally1 car, only for a fuel pressure problem on stage eight to spoil his home round of the
World championship.
Huttunen, who had only tested his M-Sport Puma briefly before his competitive debut in the car, was running eighth overall behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville when trouble struck on the eighth Sahloinen-Moksi stage.
“It’s some fuel pressure problem,” he said at the time. “When I put the stage mode on, there’s not enough fuel going to the engine so it keeps stopping.
Huttunen had earlier gone fifth fastest on the opening Harju stage but the fault dropped him to 25th overall prior to his fightback to ninth.
“It was an amazing feeling to finish the rally without any mistakes, with some good stages also,” said the WRC3 champion. “I did lose some confidence when I had a couple of small issues, but I think it was quite a positive weekend still so I can be quite happy.”