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Hirvonen wins the duel in Catalonia

Mikko Hirvonen is seriously fighting for a factory team drive for next season. His first ever podium finish in a WRC Rally took place in the Catalonia Rally after an exhilarating battle in the final special stage. The result achieved by driving a private team’s two-year-old Ford WRC Focus gave the team managers something to think about.
 

”Ford’s team manager Malcolm Wilson was really pleased when he came to congratulate me after the race,” says Hirvonen.
Hirvonen took third place in the Catalonia Rally behind Sebastien Loeb and Francois Duval. He defeated the Spanish driver Xavier Pons in a final day duel during the final three stages, thus preventing triple victory for Citroen.

Hirvonen improved his position in the race thanks to his good driving on the second day and drivers dropping out of the race ahead of him. The penalty received due to servicing after a stage dropped him into fourth place before the final three stages, which Hirvonen started eight seconds behind the third place driver Pons.

Hirvonen clinched his first ever podium finish in a WRC Rally in the final stage of the race. He raced the 29-kilometre special stage 7.7 seconds faster than Pons and took third place by a mere 1.2 seconds.

”A great battle! I had to do something going into the final stage. We selected the hardest tyres possible. We knew it was a risk but we had to do something,” says Hirvonen.

Hirvonen took a good lead at the very beginning of the final special stage after Pons had stalled his engine at the start line. The situation in middle of the stage was fairly even but Hirvonen flew for the rest of the stage.
”It was not perfect driving. We did not have a neat, round driving line throughout the stage. Occasionally, I tried too much and we went sliding in a couple of sections but the result is good. The podium finish feels wonderful,” says Hirvonen.

In rally, a driver is always only as good as his last race. Hirvonen’s name has been on everyone’s lips after the Catalonia Rally. His pace on the quick Catalonian asphalt roads was demonstrated with two fastest stage times.

”This surely warms one’s heart. This season I have had the chance to show that I can match the pace of the leaders. Let’s hope that these performances help me to find a factory team drive for next season,” Hirvonen says.

There are many seats left. Ford, Subaru and Mitsubishi have not yet released all of their drivers. There will also be top-level private teams for Ford and Subaru competing with the factory teams in the WRC series. They are also looking for professional drivers.

Considering the entire WRC season will finish in November, Hirvonen has driven a total of six fastest stage times in the Rally of Australia. In addition to the third-place finish in the Catalonia Rally, Hirvonen drove to fifth position in the Neste Rally of Finland and the Acropolis Rally in Greece.