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Hirvonen faster than ever

August 5, 2007

One of Mikko Hirvonen’s two wishes came true in Neste Oil Rally Finland. Hirvonen drove faster than ever before in any rally, and made no mistakes. His pace was not quite enough to beat Marcus Grönholm yet, but Sebastien Loeb, the WRC supremo of recent years, could not keep up with Hirvonen at all.

Hirvonen finished second just over 24 seconds behind his team-mate and holds the third place in the drivers’ championship, 18 points behind the leader Grönholm. He is just six points behind Loeb who holds the second position.

- We had a truly magnificent battle with Marcus. I have never ever driven at such speeds in any rally, Hirvonen says.

Hirvonen was fastest on 23 special stages and the second fastest on 16 stages. He practically matched the speed of Grönholm on all special stages. Bearing in mind that at 27 years, Hirvonen is in the early stages of his career and Grönholm, at 39, claimed his seventh victory in Neste Oil Rally Finland, it is easy to predict that Hirvonen will join the winners of the rally in the not-too-distant future, perhaps even next year.

- Performance such as this will boost your self-confidence. Even though we were at times driving at hair-rising speeds, I felt good and confident all the time, Hirvonen says.

That is saying a lot since the average speed on many special stages was a staggering 120–130 km per hour; at these speeds, a minor mistake may lose the entire game.

- There was no room for mistakes at any stage, not even minor ones. Mikko kept tremendous pressure on all the time, Grönholm commented his team-mate.

The WRC series continues with the German Rally on August 17–19. The rally will take place on tarmac.

- That will be the second event with the new car, and the first one on tarmac. The tests indicate that the car has made the most progress with tarmac performance, so our hopes are high regarding the German Rally, Hirvonen says.