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Hirvonen perseveres to take fourth place

Press release 4 June 2007

The Acropolis Rally, which is driven on Greece’s stony gravel roads, proved to be quite a challenge for Mikko Hirvonen. The Ford driver, who was aiming to win the race, persevered in the competition to claim fourth place, despite having driven off the road at high speed.

The Greek WRC leg was won by Marcus Grönholm, Hirvonen’s Ford team mate, who increased his lead in the series to nine points. In second place in the WRC series is Sebastian Loeb, second in the Acropolis Rally, and Hirvonen is third in the WRC series, seven points behind Loeb.

After the first day of competition Hirvonen was fifth and 10.6 seconds off the lead. During the second leg he rose to fourth place. However, after driving off the road the difference to the lead stretched to over two minutes.

“It was in a spot where I was driving in fifth gear. The road turned sharply to the right behind a small hillock. As we came to the mound, I couldn’t see the bend. We weren’t quite together and as we came to the hillock at about 150 kilometres per hour, there wasn’t much that could be done,” Hirvonen explained.

Despite driving off the road, Hirvonen’s rapid reactions helped him to avoid hitting a tree, which would have undoubtedly ended his race.
“Fortunately, we were able to continue fairly quickly, although we had to reduce our speed slightly as the windscreen was shattered. In addition, a tree branch pierced the roof hatch, which made it really tough going in the car,” Hirvonen reflected.

“Nevertheless, we were able to pick up a few championship points. But fourth place is disappointing as Friday went really well. With our speed we were vying for a top place, so it would have been possible to do better. After Saturday it was no longer possible to catch up,” Hirvonen recounted.
“I have to start focusing on the Neste Rally. The competition on home ground will be a tough battle against Marcus and the others. I really want to get a good result in Jyväskylä,” said Hirvonen.

After the Greek WRC, there is a break in the world championship series but for Hirvonen the work continues in the form of testing in Spain and then in Finland.
The Neste Rally takes place between 2–5 August in Jyväskylä, Finland.