SS4: Still tied at the top

After stage four of Rally Finland the competition couldn’t be closer. Mikko Hirvonen and Thierry Neuville are tied in first place – the third stage in succession where two drivers have shared the lead.

Citroen ace Hirvonen was fastest on the repeat of Torittu, but after the passage of 96 cars the soft road surface had deteriorated badly and deep ruts and loose rocks gave the drivers plenty to think about.

“I was surprised by how bad that stage was,” said Hirvonen. “For the conditions our car was set far too low, but okay, no worries, we got through it with no problems.”

Neuville however did not get through so cleanly. “We went very wide on a fast left-hander,” he explained. “We were in deep ruts, then the car oversteered and slid sideways. I lost three to four seconds. You can’t imagine how rough it was.”

Leading privateer Juho Hanninen was second quickest, 0.6sec slower than Hirvonen, and another Finn to be surprised by how much the road surface had broken up.

Sebastien Ogier kept out of trouble in the fourth fastest time, to hold third overall. “Really bad conditions, but for us no spins and no dramas,” he said.

Fifth placed Mads Ostberg was the first of a trio of drivers to be spat off the road by the same deep rut near the stage midpoint. “We went off,” he said after throwing his balaclava into the back of his car. “We were braking and turning in for a corner but the car just went straight on in the ruts. I had to stop and go backwards to get going again.”

Andreas Mikkelsen told a similar story, but also had trouble getting his Polo R into gear. “I went straight on at a right-hand junction and was a long time in neutral because it wouldn’t go into reverse. We lost a lot of time,” he said.

Evgeny Novikov was the rut’s last WRC victim. “I had no chance to put the car sideways or anything. In the end we had to reverse back on,” he said.

Kris Meeke’s impressive run continued with the fifth fastest time on SS4 - despite a cautious approach in the treacherous conditions. “It’s horrible in there,” he said, “really soft and big, big rocks. I got a puncture here earlier and now I don’t have a spare wheel so I took it really carefully. There are massive stones appearing here and another puncture could be the end for me.”