Solberg chases Power Stage glory

Petter Solberg is targeting victory on the event-closing Power Stage after he was unable to remain in the fight for overall honours on Neste Oil Rally Finland.

The Ford World Rally Team ace holds the record over the 33.01-kilometre Ouninpohja test, established in 2005, which counts as the penultimate stage of the event plus the Power Stage, which awards bonus points to the fastest three drivers.

“My car on the last stage was working really well,” said the 2003 world champion, currently fourth overall in Finland. “We will push hard on Ouninpohja to try to get the three points. There could be a little bit of rain but that would be perfect for the grip.”

Mikko Hirvonen, currently in the chase for first place in his works Citroen, said: “It’s going to be fun and for sure I’ll be fighting. Hopefully we can take some time out of Sebastien on the first run to make it even closer for the second run.”

The two Ouninpohja runs will be split by a 50-minute regroup, which Jari-Matti Latvala’s co-driver Miikka Anttila says will only add to the expected drama on the Power Stage.

“It’s like a rally computer game when you do a stage and you know you have done a mistake and you want to try again,” said Anttila. “It’s a similar situation where you can play again. As it is such a fast stage it’s difficult to make any big differences so if you want to be the fastest of the fastest you have to take risks and it’s down to how eager you are to win the rally and to get the three points if you want to risk or not.”