Mikkonen, Salo and Lindroos Celebrated in Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunkiralli celebrated its 10th anniversary in a crisp and sunny autumn weather. Amongst the competitors some also had cause for celebration, for some the day brought nothing but trouble. Celebrating the victory in both the overall competition and Group A was Jarmo Mikkonen, who in his own words ended a 30-year-long winless draught. In Group N over 2000 cc the win was scored by Juha Salo, whilst his biggest rivals Jari Ketomaa and Kosti Katajamäki were amongst the rally´s unlucky retirees. In Group N up to 2000 cc Joonas Lindroos eventually won the tight battle against Jarkko Nikara by 7.3 seconds. This meant that Lindroos also secured the Finnish Championship in this class.
Mikkonen Finally "Hits the Jackpot"
Jussi Välimäki, who started the Uusikaupunki in points´ lead of
Group A, thought that he might not be able to match the speed of
WRC drivers Jarmo Mikkonen and Ari Vihavainen with his "new"
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. Välimäki thought right as the fastest
times on the first three stages were set by the WRC pair. Mikkonen
was quickest on stages 1 and 2 and Vihavainen on SS3. In the first
service of the day Mikkonen was in the lead, 5.7 seconds ahead of
Vihavainen. At this stage Välimäki was only fifth, 32.8 seconds
behind Mikkonen and had also Kim Niemi and Timo Mäenpää ahead of
him.
On SS4 Vihavainen an off ended Vihavainen´s rally and Mikkonen had
an even stronger hold of the lead. Niemi moved up to second place
and Mäenpää to third. Välimäki too moved ahead, but his gap to the
lead was already 46.1 seconds. Mikkonen continued to set the
fastest times on SS5 and the order of the top drivers remained the
same before the second service.
Mikkonen was in command also in the last three stages of the rally,
both in Group A and in the overall competition. Kim Niemi held his
second place all the way to the finish line, but Timo Mäenpää
retired on SS6 due to a broken wheel bearing. Kari Ali-Rantala was
eventually third and Heikki Westerlund finished fourth, ahead of
Jussi Välimäki.
- The early part of the day wasn´t so good. There were some new
parts in the car which we hadn´t had a change to test properly. The
final three stages were much better, with a change of tyres etc.
This was my first win in over 30 years! The driving felt great,
explained the happy Mikkonen.
- This was our best result on the Finnish Championship level. It
feels really good, it was a great drive, said Kim Niemi.
Drama in Group N over 2000 cc - Salo Wins the Day
In this class the action begun right after the start, before the
first stage, when the reigning champion and one this year´s title
contenders Jari Ketomaa had to throw in the towel due to a broken
fuel pump before the rally had even really begun. Championship
leader Juha Salo and Kosti Katajamäki, who was third in the points
before the Uusikaupunkiralli, started their battle virtually
head-to-head: on SS1 Salo was only 0.4 seconds faster than
Katajamäki.
Then Lady Luck turned her back to Katajamäki as well. He had a
puncture on SS2 and the situation was made worse by the fact that
the jack in his car was the wrong kind. Katajamäki had to drive
through SS3 with a flat to the next service. That caused him to
fall to 14th place in Group N over 2000 cc and his gap to the
biggest rival Salo was over a minute and 10 seconds. At that point
Toni Klemets was running second in the group, 10.4 seconds behind
the leader Salo. Teemu Arminen was third, 2.5 seconds behind
Klemets.
Juha Salo´s good pace continued on SS4 and he increased the gap
between himself and Klemets, and Marko Mänty who had moved up to
third past Arminen. Kosti Katajamäki set the second fastest time in
Group N over 2000 cc on stage 4, but that only helped him to climb
from 14th to 11th. On SS5 Salo was still the fastest in the class,
whereas Katajamäki was now completely deserted by the temperamental
Lady Luck: a technical fault put an end to Katajamäki´s fight in
the rally. Also Klemets´ was forced to retire after an off on SS5.
Salo held his lead all the way to the finish and took a firm grip
of the title. The tight battle for second place in Uusikaupunki was
eventually won by Jukka Ketomäki. He beat third place man Teemu
Arminen by a mere 5.3 seconds.
- My situation became a bit easier when my closest rivals had to
retire. Otherwise I would have been forced to drive with a much
greater risk. The car had improved a lot, and actually this was the
first time during the summer that the car felt good. I have a good
feeling going to [the final round in] Mikkeli, but certainly a
flawless drive is needed there too, commented Salo.
- This was the first time in ages that everything worked well. On
the first stage a distorted brake disc hampered my driving a bit,
but after that it started going well. We were able to pick up the
speed when it was needed to fight for seconds, said the pleased
Ketomäki.
- Naturally you feel a bit disappointed when you lose the fight for
second place. It was the tarmac stage that did it. Ketomäki was
faster and that´s that. We really did push, and had a couple of
"sticky situations" too. There was nothing we could do, Jukka was
just faster. We´ll rectify that in Mikkeli, promised Arminen.
Joonas Lindroos Secured Championship Gold in Group N up to 2000
cc
Joonas Lindroos was leading the standings before
Uusikaupunkiralli by such a large margin that he didn´t have to win
there. At first, the pace was indeed set by Jarkko Nikara, who was
fastest on stages 1 and 2. Lindroos was quickest through SS3 and
the gap to Nikara was never that big. Coming to the first service
Nikara was leading Lindroos by 3.9 seconds. Third at this point was
Ville Hautamäki, 3.5 seconds behind Lindroos.
On SS4 Nikara managed to increase his lead. Lindroos remained
second, 6.7 seconds behind Nikara. On stage 5 then Lindroos
attacked - the result was, in addition to the fastest time in the
class, a tenth fastest time overall. Lindroos moved ahead of Nikara
and took the lead, by 1.7 seconds. Ville Hautamäki, who was running
third, retired after a gearbox failure before stage 5. The third
place was inherited by Jani Hirvonen.
For the sixth and the longest stage of the rally Lindroos and
Nikara set the exact same time. On SS7 Nikara was again fastest,
but Lindroos kept his lead by a "staggering" 0.3 seconds. The stage
was set for a final stage showdown. Lindroos was quickest, won
Group N up to 2000 cc in Uusikaupunkiralli and clenched the first
Finnish Championship title of his career.
- You really had to push right 'till the end. Before the last stage
the gap was only that 0.3 seconds, but we did it! This was a tight
battle throughout the day and we were driving right at the limit.
We really pushed and the lines were quite wide in places, explained
the slightly baffled but overjoyed Lindroos.
- I guess we really did secure the title. After a quick calculation
the gap to Jarkko is 25 points and that is enough! I´ve got some
disrupted seasons behind be, but now we had the whole season with
Honda and had the best possible result, said the happy new Finnish
Champion.
- There were just too many mistakes. My co-drive lost his place in
the pacenotes, the fuel indicator light came on and the car started
to jerk, there was a gear-miss in the beginning of the last stage
and stuff like that. I guess I was pushing too hard, Nikara
fretted.
In the final round in Mikkeli there will be a battle for the
championship silver and bronze between Nikara, Ville Hautamäki and
Ailu Magga, at least.
Next round:
Vaakuna-Ralli, the 8th and final round of the Finnish Rally
Championship 2007, takes place in Mikkeli on 22 September 2007.
