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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

More outings possible for Breen

Craig Breen has said he won't discount another IRC outing this year, should more sponsorship be found.

Breen, who lies second in the WRC Academy, made his European tarmac début on the Barum Czech Rally Zlín last weekend. He finished the notoriously difficult event seventh overall, only 4.2 secs behind ex-World Championship regular Toni Gardemeister in sixth.

Even with his result, he knows it will take time before he starts to fight with the IRC regulars, saying: “It’s the financial side of things that are difficult. It would be foolish to get big headed. Okay it’s seventh overall in the IRC but there are still six guys in front of me that I need to beat and that is a long way down the road from happening. It’s only my third year of rallying.”

Breen described his first European tarmac event as a 'surreal' experience, starting behind Toni Gardemiester on some stages, the same Toni Gardemiester that he used to play as on his Playstation back home in Ireland.

It’s crazy. When Toni Gardemeister was driving in the world championship I was playing it on the PlayStation as Toni. When you look at him starting stages in front of you it’s a surreal experience. This is me, I am a young chap from a small place in Ireland and I am competing in the IRC and doing well. I can’t put it into words how much of a good feeling it is.”

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

MINI team happy with Meeke

MINI's Technical Director Dave Wilcock has said that Kris Meeke has earned his seat in the WRC.

"We are very, very pleased with the car and Kris. We all know what Dani is capable of on this rally and he drove a fantastic rally, but I think Kris showed what he was capable of here as well; he demonstrated why he is worthy of his place in the field. For me, Kris had nothing to prove, but he did just that here." said Wilcock.

Both Meeke & team-mate Dani Sordo ran very strongly throughout the course of Rallye Deutschland. Meeke ran fifth for most of the event before dropping behind Petter Solberg after he had a trip into the vineyard. Only 7 secs behind Solberg going into SS18, Meeke's MINI ground to a halt, with suspected alternator failure.

Meeke himself was disappointed with retirement, but he said he will take away positives from the event, having been on or near the pace of known tarmac-specialist team-mate Dani Sordo right up until his puncture & vineyard excursion.

"Not finishing was obviously hugely frustrating, but we have set some times on this rally. It was a bit of a lottery out there with regards to punctures, but we're taking the positives away from here. When everything was going well and we had no punctures, we were right there with Dani."

MINI WRC Team boss Dave Richards praised Meeke's performances, stating he thinks Meeke has been 'underestimated for many years': "Kris has done a great job. Generally, he should be very proud of what he's done. I had little doubt this was the performance he was going to do, personally, I think he's been underestimated for many years."

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ulster Rally Review

Photos: Photography by Jordan Murphy


Tim McNulty has taken the lead of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship after his first win on the Ulster Rally. Darren Gass took third, almost 2 mins behind McNulty. Round 3 winner Darragh O'Riordan took fourth ahead of former Championship leader Kevin Barrett.
Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely
Subaru Impreza WRC
1st o/a
The Meath man held second behind Derek McGarrity until he nudged ahead on SS12, before an exceptional run over SS13, snatching 18secs out of McGarrity. Try as me might, McGarrity couldn't pull back the time lost, winning the last stage by 3 secs. It wasn't enough, and McNulty secured his third win of the year.

Derek McGarrity/James McKee
Subaru Impreza WRC
2nd o/a
Darren Gass drove a controlled rally to take third. He conceded he wouldn't have the pace of regulars McNulty & McGarrity, but he was able to beat O'Riordan and Barrett. In Championship terms, O'Riordan took third placed points and Barrett fourth placed points because of Gass not being registered for points.
Darren Gass/Enda Sherry
Subaru Impreza WRC
3rd o/a
In the Rally NI, Garry Jennings took the win ahead of the very impressive Marty McCormack. McCormack took his Citroen DS3 to second place ahead of the Renault Clio of Tommy Doyle. Doyle took the Pirelli Star Driver yellow jersey for his achievement. McCormack's win was the first time a 2WD car had won an event in the BRC in over 10 years, the last time being Mark Higgins's win in the Vauxhall Astra kit car on the Manx International in 2000.

Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
1st Rally NI
I can’t believe it. It’s amazing to have won. We started off by being fasts on the first stage and then were able to hold the lead for the whole rally. It’s absolutely brilliant and I’m very happy to be the first winner in a two-wheel-drive car for so many years. Full dues must go to Santeloc, Citroen and to everybody in the team for their work. It’s been a tough week for the them, but the car has been fantastic and I must pay tribute to the team.” said McCormack.

Marty McCormack/Dave Moynihan
Citroen DS3
2nd Rally NI
1st BRC
BRC leader David Bogie took third in the BRC rally and fourth in Rally NI. With the threat of rain throughout Friday afternoon, Bogie was concerned about tyre choice, but he seemed to have chosen the correct tyres by the time the rain came on Friday night. A scant 5 secs behind was Jonny Greer. The local driver had a difficult Leg 1 of the rally, when his rear diff packed up, leaving the Fabia in 2WD drive. Elfyn Evans took 6th at the end after dropping 3 mins on the opening stage with a puncture.

Tommy Doyle/Liam Moynihan
Renault Clio R3
3rd Rally NI
2nd BRC
David Bogie/Kevin Rae
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
3rd BRC
In the Ulster Historic Rally, Dessie Nutt's Porsche 911 took a convincing win in Category 1, 5 mins ahead of Rikki Profitt's similar car. Category 2 saw David Stokes win by 2 mins over Mark Falvey. Category 2 saw the Top 8 being filled with 8 Ford Escorts. Tomas Davis in his Escort won Category 3 over Connor Corkill. The FIA Class saw Jimmy McRae make a winning return to the Ulster lanes, winning by 1 min 51 secs over John Keatly. Indeed, it could have been a bigger margin, had McRae not incurred a 1 min road penalty.


Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride
Porsche 911
1st Historic Category 1 
David Stokes/Guy Weaver
Ford Escort MK1 RS1600
1st Historic Category 2

Tomas Davis/Eurig Davis
Ford Escort MK2 RS1800
1st Historic Category 3



Pat Kirk won the Ulster National Rally by 1 min 42 secs over Geoffrey Dolan's Talbot Sunbeam. Niall Henry took his Subaru to third overall, 11 secs behind Dolan. Rising star Amy Cox took second in Class 6, only 11 secs behind winner Alan Atcheson. George Robinson in his Subaru Impreza WRC lead until SS10, when he crashed out of the rally.


Pat Kirk/Peter Ward
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
1st o/a Ulster National Rally
Jack Rowe put in an impressive performance in his Ford Fiesta R2 to win both rounds of the BRC challenge double-header. The first day saw Rowe win by 2 mins 44 secs over Jamie Brown's Fiesta ST, whilst the second day saw Rowe's winning margin reduced, though he still won by over 30 secs.

If there was to be a 'crash of the rally' award, it surely would have gone to Alex Laffey. Laffey's Fiesta was thrown into a multiple end-over-end roll on the Tardree stage. Both driver & navigator Chris Williams escaped serious injury, Williams suffered a broken collar bone. Such was the damage to the Fiesta, a silence descended over the service park when it was brought in on the back of a recovery lorry. Williams later thanked the rescue team who and the medical team who brought him to hospital.



Marty McCormack getting a good soaking!
Pirelli Star Driver Tommy Doyle

'Big Tim' having a laugh.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Loeb to continue in WRC

Seven-times World Champion Sebastian Loeb has comfirmed he will continue to compete in the sports top level after recently signing a contract that will run for two-years with Citroen.

Rumours have been circulating for a time now about his retirement being imminent. Indeed, they stretch back to the end of 2009, when, after saying he would be interested in replacing F1 team Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the possibility of a full-time seat in 2010. Bourdais was fired after the German Grand Prix in July 2009, freeing up a seat for Loeb, but he was unable to get his mandatory Superlicense because he didn't have enough single-seater starts to his name.

After the F1 rumours died down he was then said to be entering sports car racing full time. He has taken part in 2005 & 2005, and took second in 2006. After this, he was said to be switching to the World Touring Car Championship, after being seen in a Chevrolet Cruze at a test session, at the invite of fellow Frenchman Yvan Muller.

With the arrival of other manufacturers in the championship, the competition is going to get tougher in the years to come. All the more so with the rule changes concerning the starting order coming in in 2012 as all the drivers will be fighting on a level playing field. To take the fight to them I’m putting my trust in Citroen, a team I know inside out and the DS3 WRC, the car that I helped [develop] with Citroen Racing.” Loeb said in a statement on his official website.

General Manager of Citroen, Frederic Banzet, is happy that Loeb will continue with them, going for an eighth successive world title.

Sebastian Loeb is a great ambassador for the make. Today, his image and ours are intimately linked. He incarnates the daring, the sporting spirit and the love of competition, values that are very dear to us. We’re proud of his loyalty to Citroen and of the fact that he’s continuing with his career with the team that’s supported him since his début.”

Loeb has been with Citroen since his first works start in the WRC on the 2001 Rallye San Remo. He took his first podium and win for Citroen in Germany 2002, his first World title for Citroen in 2004 and has since taken 782 stage wins, 101 podiums, 66 wins and 7 titles. Perhaps most surprisingly, out of his 164 WRC starts, he has only retired 16 times, with only a handful of his own fault. 

Richards wants to show MINI pace in Germany

MINI WRC Team boss Dave Richards has said that his two drivers are under orders this weekend to show the true competitiveness of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, after two events of restrained performances.

We have high expectations going into Rally Germany. The MINI has shown a great deal of promise in recent Tarmac tests in Germany and Italy and both drivers have told me how much confidence they have in the set-up. Dani, in particular, very much likes this rally and I know that he and Kris have traded times on these stages in the past. Unlike Finland, where our number one priority was to get valuable competitive mileage on the car, in Germany we will be looking for both drivers to begin to demonstrate the true performance of the MINI.” he said.

Richards ruled out a victory, owing to a lack of development on the engine, but he is sure that both cars can run closer to the works Fords and Citroens. But, after some serious testing mileage in Germany and Italy, Meeke and Sordo are both confident in the car's capabilities.

Both drivers have good experience and histories on the German event, with Sordo taking three second places, behind Sebastian Loeb, who is seemingly unbeatable here. Meeke, too, has shown promise here, with victory in the J-WRC category in 2006 and second the year before.

Sordo is looking forward to returning to the event, saying he likes all the different parts of the rally: “This is a rally I am really looking forward to,” he said. “I like the stages in all three areas - the vineyards, the military training ground and the normal roads. It has lots of hairpins, which are very different to the tight corners we get in Spain. I particularly enjoy driving in the vineyards as these roads are narrow and fast.”

Meeke, however, has echoed Richards' sentiments about the engine. The Northern Irish driver says that particularly at junctions they'll be slowed, but it's nothing too concerning due to the facts that it's only their third rally and first tarmac rally.

The engine is one of the areas we’re working on as part of the ongoing development. We could be exposed in Germany because of all the junctions - there are 80 on the Arena Panzerplatte stage alone - but at the same time we have to remember this is only our third rally and our first on Tarmac.”

Sordo and co-driver Carlos del Barrio will start at No. 10 whilst Meeke and Paul Nagle starts at No. 15. They will be joined by a further four John Cooper Works WRC's, driver by Patrik Flodin, Armindo Araujo, Daniel Olivera and Pierre Campana. The rally kicks off at 9:30AM Friday morning before crews tackle 359 competitive kilometres.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Germany Ostberg's 2011 finale?

M-Sport Stobart Ford driver Mads Ostberg has admitted that this weekend's Rallye Deutschland may be his last rally of 2011.

A lack of money has already put Ostberg out of Australia, his seat being taken by Evgney Novikov. The Norwegian has had a fairly strong season, second in Sweden (after leading for a while), fifth in Mexico, Argentina and Italy and sixth in Finland have put him in 6th overall in the Driver's Standings. However, even with these strong results, he may be forced to call his season to a halt early.

Ostberg faces a challenge in the fact that he has not driven on tarmac in a proper WRC car for 3 years and has not driven his Fiesta RS WRC on tarmac yet, though he is due to carry out a test prior to the event.

It's going to be difficult as it's my first time driving on asphalt in a World Rally Car since Corsica and Spain in 2008. I competed in last year's Rallye Deutschland and Rally Catalunya in a Ford Fiesta S2000 so I had some experience during those events but it's very different behind the wheel of a World Rally Car.”

Ostberg is hoping to carry over his pace from the gravel of Finland to the tarmac of Germany, though he knows it's going to be a tough rally.

I think it's going to be a tough event but I hope to be where I was on the last day in Finland, I just need to be pushing from the start and it'd be great to challenge the 'top five' more on this rally.” 

Monday, August 15, 2011

No F1 test for Block

Gymkhana star Ken Block's hotly anticipated Formula 1 test has been forced to be put off until later in the year, owing to Block being too tall for the car.


The test, which was due to be carried out at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza earlier on this month, but when Blocked jumped into Pirelli's test car, a Toyota TF109, it was found that, although he could fit into the car, the steering wheel caught his leg when he tried to turn the wheel to full lock.


We can’t find a car big enough. The test has had to be delayed until we find a suitable vehicle. We’re confident we can do it, but we haven’t yet found the right car. And when we have found the right car, then we can’t find the people to run it - because there are no longer any test teams and very few have running old F1 cars. To be honest, it’s been a bit of a challenge - but we will make it happen.” said Paul Hembery, manager of Pirelli's Motorsport end.

Another, bigger, car was sought after, but it came to nought after time ran out, which was caused by the mandatory F1 summer holiday and Block's own schedule, which included the X Games in America, testing for the ADAC Rallye Deutschland and the event itself. It also proved difficult to also source old F1 cars, with very few private owners of the multi-million pound machines.

Pirelli are now understood to be wanting to re-schedule the test to coincide with Pirelli's own tyre test later on this year, where ex-F1 driver Lucas di Grassi will be present.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Andersson & Basso for Zlin

PROTON Motorsports have confirmed they will enter a two-car team on this month's Barum Czech Rally Zlín.

PROTON Motorsports entered two cars for Keith Cronin and Niall McShea last year, and they impressed over the early stages of the rally. However, it all went wrong for the then reigning British Rally Champion Cronin, crashing out on SS8. McShea joined Cronin in the retirement ranks with mechanical failure on the very next stage.

This time out, PG Andersson and 2006 IRC Champion Giandomenico Basso will pilot the two Satria Neo S2000s. This does prove a strong line-up, with Andersson a double Junior World Rally Champion and Basso the first IRC Champion and a double European Rally Champion. However, Andersson has never competed on the rally, but Basso has, twice, but has never finished the rally.

This year, Andersson has started four events and is yet to score, whilst Basso has scored a ninth place on the season opener Rallye Monte Carlo, but has retired twice in his four starts.

Van Dalen confident of Wilks' title chances

Kronos Racing boss Marc van Dalen is confident that Guy Wilks can overcome his 36 point deficit and win the 2011 IRC Driver's crown.



Wilks sits 36 points off the lead of the Championship after 6 rounds, having failed to score higher than third this year and having suffered two non-finishes. Despite this, with five rounds to go and with drivers only having to count 7 rounds out of the 11 rounds that make up the 2011 Calender, Belgian van Dalen is sure Wilks can win.

Everything is still possible with many rallies left including Scotland and Cyprus where there a points and a half and double points available [respectively]. It is very important Guy is on the podium [in the IRC's next event, the Barum Czech Rally Zlín] but for sure he has the speed to do it and we know the car is on the right level,”

Van Dalen says that multiple British Rally Champion Wilks, and the Peugeot UK team as a whole, are still motivated to win, even after such a difficult start to the season.

We are all behind him because we win as a team and we lose as a team. I know Guy is 100 per cent motivated to be successful and so are we.”

Friday, August 12, 2011

Novikov confirmed for Australia

Evgeny Novikov has been nominated as one of M-Sport Stobart Ford's for next month's Rally Australia.

Team boss Malcolm Wilson says that he has been impressed with the 'new' Novikov, who's new-found maturity has netted him some top-three stage times, and he has been running third is two of the three rallies he has competed in.

Evgeny has impressed me this season, not just as a driver but also in his maturity. He’s managed to set several top three stage times on the three rallies he’s competed in this year and has been running third in two of these events.” said Wilson.

Novikov has been nominated to score Manufacturer points alongside Matthew Wilson. The Russian will replace Mads Ostberg, who hasn't been able to gather together enough money to compete on the event. The team's third driver Henning Solberg, who himself was only announced for Australia recently, is not registered for Manufacturer points, but will be looking to add more points to his Driver's Championship tally.

As for Australia, Henning Solberg’s attendance was not confirmed until recently so the decision for Evgeny to be the team’s point-scorer was made based on this. However, at the start of the year it was agreed that the nominated point-scorers for M-Sport Stobart would likely change throughout the season to give all drivers a chance to score points for the team.” Wilson added.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

No Byrnildsen in Germany

S-WRC driver Eyvind Byrnildsen will now not take part in this month's Rallye Deutschland, owing to damage sustained in his Rally Finland crash last month.

I’m very sorry to say that I can’t do the rally. Rallye Deutschland is such a great rally with great fans and super stages that suites me well. But the whole team PS Engineering is working hard to get us back on track in France [the next S-WRC round].”

Brynildsen was due to take part in his Skoda Fabia S2000, but after his crash in Finland, where he hit a bank & rolled at high speed, his car proved to be too badly damaged to be able to take part in the German round of the WRC.

I was just too fast and missed the line - it was a driving mistake,” said Brynildsen. “Before we have had some technical problems and in Finland I was starting to do well until I did the mistake. It was quite a hard impact but we have a lot of protection so it was not too bad.”

Even though he has had a tough season on-board the PS Engineering-run car, Byrnildsen is still optimistic he can make a come-back, even if he is 70 points adrift of series leader Juho Hanninen.

The season so far hasn’t been what we believed it would be before we started. But I really believe we can come back because I do get great help and motivation from my boss Petter Solberg. With the speed we have proved when everything is working I believe we’ll be back. A hard life is only temporary and I hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”

Monday, August 8, 2011

Wilson confident of tarmac win

Malcolm Wilson is sure that the works Ford team can score maximum points on a tarmac rally this year after promising showings on the tarmac sections of gravel rallies this year.

I’m totally convinced we’re going to win a Tarmac rally this year - I don’t know which one it will be but I really feel confident. Wherever there has been Tarmac this year - okay it’s been with a gravel set-up on gravel tyres but everywhere we’ve been quickest. Mikko [Hirvonen] was quickest [on the Lisbon superspecial stage in] Portugal, while Jari-Matti [Latvala] was quickest in Argentina. Okay the cars were a long way off being on full Tarmac settings but from what the drivers are saying after the Tarmac testing we have done is very, very encouraging.”

Mikko Hirvonen took fastest time on the Lisbon Super Special stage in Portugal, and Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest on the tarmac in Argentina, beating both the tarmac-dominant Citroens (though both these stage wins were on gravel tyres on gravel suspension set-ups). The last non-Citroen victory on tarmac was in a Ford Focus, driven by Markko Martin in Spain in 2004. Indeed, Marcus Gronholm did win Rallye Monte Carlo in 2006, but that was after Sebastian Loeb spun off the road on SS6, losing almost 4 mins. Martin's Spanish win in 2004, too, came after Loeb was forced out of the rally.

Loeb has proved to be the fastest driver on tarmac for quite a while. Since taking his first win in Germany 2002, Loeb has won all but 5, winning 26 events. Nevertheless, Wilson is confident his team can break Citroen's strangle-hold on the tarmac events.

Gerard Quinn, head of Ford of Europe's Motorsport division, is equally confident, made even more confident by Latvala's Argentinian pace and an air of confidence from both Ford drivers.

But both Jari-Matti and Mikko have shown flashes of what they can do on Tarmac this year. We’ve seen in Argentina on the 20-kilometre Tarmac section the pace we showed with Jari-Matti. The drivers are very eager to get back onto Tarmac so there’s an element of confidence we didn’t have previously. I’m hoping we can capitalise on that confidence.”

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Breen makes European tarmac debut

WRC Academy driver Craig Breen will contest next month's Barum Czech Rally Zlín.

The plan is to go there and learn but it’s also a good chance to try to prove myself. I’ve never been to the rally before but I’ve spoken to a lot of people to get some advice. The stages look similar to what we have in Ireland but a bit more bumpy in places.”

Breen will contest the rally in his Ford Fiesta S2000, switching from his usual Fiesta R2, and says the rally will be a good chance to measure his pace against the IRC regulars, a selection of the fastest S2000-mounted drivers in the world.

One possible problem may be that he has never driven on tarmac outside of Ireland or Britain, but with stages similar to his native Irish stages, and changeable weather & grip levels playing a major part, and his undoubted natural talent, Breen may well find himself mixing it with the best in the IRC.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Barrable wants more IRC outings

Robert Barrable has said he wants to compete on more IRC rounds, following his IRC début in an S2000 car on last month's Ypres Rally.

Barrable began the Belgian event down in 30th, with an aim to finish 'any higher than we started'. He fought his way through the field, taking fifth fastest on the second stage, to finish 10th at the end of the rally. However, it later transpired that a technical problem with Bryan Bouffier's Peugeot lead to the Frenchman being excluded and Barrable moved to ninth overall. A spin ultimately stopped him finishing higher, but he was happy with his progress.

We’d have been happy to have finished any higher than we started. It was brilliant to have got points on an event as long as Ypres. We need to look at the car’s rebuild schedule and we will finish the British championship, but if we can fit in some more IRC events then we will.” said the Irishman.

Barrable sits seventh in the BRC drivers standings, with three events remaining. His next event is this month's Ulster Rally.

Campana nets MINI run

Rising French rally star Pierre Campana has netted a drive in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC machine for two rounds of this year's WRC season.


To be driving a MINI John Cooper Works WRC car is an incredible thought and I will do all I can to uphold the reputation of all these legendary brands. I am incredibly thankful to the FFSA for giving me this incredible honour and would also like to extend my thanks to Drive-Pro for giving me this opportunity.”

Campana will drive the car in Germany and his home round of France with the Team Drive Pro team. Prodrive will have a hand in the car as will the FFSA, who have Campana as leader of the Rally Team France 2011 programme, which has been designed to get French drivers into the WRC, and boasts graduates such as seven-times World Champion Sebastian Loeb and multiple World Rally winner Sebastian Ogier. Campana will get a test in the car and will have his competitive début on the Richard Burns Memorial Rally in nine days time, before his Germany outing in the car.

I am very proud to have been chosen by the FFSA to wear the colours of Rally Team France. For me it's a great leap forward in my rally career and I cannot wait to begin this exciting new chapter. It will be a big challenge but one which I am confident I can contest to a high level and with complete focus and motivation.” said the 25 year old Corsican.

The French ace is wary that he will have a difficult job ahead of him, having not competed in a WRC event for three years now, though his 2008 Tour de Corse outing netted him third in J-WRC. Adding to this, he has never competed in the Rallye de France in it's current form (based in Alsace) and he has never competed in Germany either.

I can't wait for the test to get under way at Alès-Cévennes tomorrow. I am keeping my expectations realistic, though, because this will be my first WRC participation since Tour de Corse three years ago. I was not in last year's event at Alsace and this will be my first ever WRC Germany, so I will have plenty to learn in a short space of time. I am going to soak up every minute of this experience and just do my best along this great new journey which has been laid in front of me.” he added.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Ketomaa gets 2012 campaign

Jari Ketomaa has confirmed he will get a six-round WRC campaign in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC next year.

Ketomaa made his new generation WRC car début on last weekend's Rally Finland. He lead after the first stage, but dropped time on the next stage to get a good road position for Friday's stages. However, he crashed on Friday's fifth stage, but roll cage damage prevented him from continuing.

"It was great to have the chance to drive the Fiesta at home. And it was going very well until I crashed. The car wasn't too bad, but the roll cage was damaged, so we couldn't go on.” he said.

Ketomaa was sufficiently fast to impress his sponsors, despite crashing. He is hoping to get the funds together to contest the Rallye de France later on in the year, to gain some tarmac miles before next year.

"Okay, I crashed, but I also led Rally Finland - after my favourite stage in Lankamaa - and my sponsors are pleased with what I did, which has helped for next season."

"I am working on trying to go to France for another WRC round to get some asphalt experience, but really my big focus is on next year and doing six rallies in a Fiesta.”

No details of his programme for next year have been released, however he is expected to contest the season opener Rally Sweden and his home rally, Finland.