Hirvonen: Crash was my fault

Mikko Hirvonen admitted his own pace note mistake caused the accident that sidelined him from Rally Argentina this morning.

The Finn slammed sideways into a wall just 7.5km into the opening stage from Santa Catalina to La Pampa and his Ford Fiesta RS was too badly damaged to continue.

“It was my mistake, I just missed a pace note,” Hirvonen told wrc.com. “There was a flat corner and for some reason I just missed it. The next bend was a short right into a very tight left, and I thought that was the flat corner. I went way too fast. My mistake, my rally didn’t last too long this time.”

After finishing second at Rally de Portugal last month, Hirvonen was upbeat about his chances in Argentina and was quickest in yesterday morning’s shakedown.

Hirvonen was unsure if his M-Sport team could repair the damage to allow him to return under Rally 2 rules tomorrow.

“Mechanics can sometimes do miracles but it was a really big hit in the rear right corner. We will have to wait and see when we get the car back to service,” he said.