Robert Kubica secures another podium finish

After wins at the Acropolis Rally and Rally d’Italia Sardegna, Robert Kubica and Maciek Baran finished as runners-up in the WRC2 category in Finland. The Poles produced a flawless performance on what is without doubt the most difficult course to get to grips with, taking them ever closer to the top of championship standings.

With some twenty crews taking part in Rally Finland, the WRC2 category boasted a strong line-up, especially as the list of entrants featured some of the best local specialists, including Jari Ketomaa and Esapekka Lappi. Such stiff opposition could only be welcomed by Robert Kubica, who knows he must face increasingly difficult challenges if he is to keep learning about rallying. Aside from the competition, the Citroën DS3 RRC driver admitted he was somewhat in awe of the stages: “As you might expect, it is very difficult to predict how the car will handle by completing the recce runs at low speed. I don’t know whether to be excited or scared by what lies ahead!”

The race began on Thursday with a leg made up of six stages. Improving quickly throughout the day, the Pole moved into second position, 24s behind Ketomaa: “We haven’t covered many kilometres, but it was still difficult, especially when it started raining towards the end of the day. The second leg will be more complex. We have to keep calm, because it seems easy to make minor mistakes, which can be very costly.”

Friday’s leg enabled Robert to consolidate his position. Constantly among the leaders, he withstood the pressure applied by Hayden Paddon. In fact, it was the 2011 World P-WRC Champion that ended up making a mistake at the end of the day. One minute behind Ketomaa, Kubica held a two-minute lead over his nearest challenger.

“I was surprised by how much the stages changed between the morning and the afternoon, when there were deep lines. I don’t know if it is like this every year, because I have no experience to go on – I have only seen Rally Finland on television,” he commented after he arrived back in Jyväskylä. “In fact, I was caught out on the first stage in the afternoon. The car was too low. On one corner, we hit the lines and the front of the car lifted and we went straight on and into the trees! We then changed the set-up, raising the ride height, and after that everything went well. It was a good lesson. When you have zero experience on stages as specific as these, every kilometre makes a huge difference.”

Despite there being significant gaps between the leading drivers, Robert continued at a strong pace on the final day. He enjoyed his first ever taste of the legendary Ouninpohja stage. “Jari Ketomaa told me that he had driven on some stages more than fifteen times in the Finnish Championship. So it was never going to be easy to challenge him,” concluded Robert. “I didn’t really expect to finish second up against so many experienced drivers, but we found the right level of aggression straight away. Considering that I only had my first outing on gravel in April, we are clearly moving forward in the right direction. It’s not possible to always take a step forward at every rally. There is still a lot of work to do, because every WRC rally is different and will give me some new experience.”

In the WRC2 championship standings, Robert Kubica now holds third place with 76 points scored from four rallies. His average of 19 points scored per race is better than that of the top two, who have already taken part in more events.