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Hirvonen chasing a surprise win in Jyväskylä

PRESS RELEASE 30 July 2007

In the rally in Norway during the winter, Mikko Hirvonen overcame the leaders of the World Championship series: Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Citroen's Sebastien Loeb. During the Neste Oil Rally at the weekend the Ford driver will be trying to pull off the same feat, although beating Grönholm, who is chasing his seventh victory in the competition, will be difficult.

“The route has been changed quite radically. There will be a lot of new roads, especially for Loeb. Marcus has driven those new special stages and knows them better than Loeb, so Marcus is the competition favourite, but I'm also driving to win,” Hirvonen says with confidence.

The Neste Oil Rally is the first of the series following the summer break. The Ford team will introduce a replacement car, which they are expecting a lot of, especially during the autumn’s competitions on asphalt.

“The car is lighter and more agile than the previous one. It is a step forward on asphalt and gravel compared with the previous car. The car handled well in tests on gravel, so we are hopeful that it will give us a competitive edge at the weekend,” says Hirvonen.

Although the route of the Neste Oil rally has been modified, its spirit is the same. The competition is the fastest of the World Championship series. Artificial chicanes have been introduced to some of the fastest places to slow the drivers down so that they avoid speed blindness.

The route has 23 special stages, with a total distance of 360 kilometres. The competition begins on Thursday with the “Killeri” special stage. Ten stages are driven on Friday and nine on Saturday, leaving only three for Sunday.
The competition may be decided as early as Saturday with the Ouninpohja stage, which is driven twice in its full-length, i.e. a distance of 33 km.
“I believe that after the first day, the top six will be within 30 seconds off each other. Along with Grönholm and Loeb, Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson, Henning Solberg and Jari-Matti Latvala will drive really fast in Jyväskylä,” predicts Hirvonen.

Coming into the Neste Oil Rally, eight World Championship rallies have already been driven and the same number have yet to take place. Loeb has won four of the rallies driven so far, Grönholm three and Hirvonen one. Grönholm leads the series with a nine point lead over Loeb, who is, in turn, seven points ahead of Hirvonen.

The Neste Rally schedule:

Thursday 2 August
8.00 p.m. Special stage 1 Killeri 1 (2.06 km)

Friday 3 August
07.54 Special Stage 2 Vellipohja 1 (16.20 km)
08.50 Special Stage 3 Mökkiperä 1 (13.50 km)
09.29 Special Stage 4 Palsankylä 1 (12.70 km)
10.51 Service (30 min)
12.06 Special Stage 5 Vellipohja 2 (16.20 km)
13.02 Special Stage 6 Mökkiperä 2 (13.50 km)
13.41 Special Stage 7 Palsankylä 2 (12.70 km)
15.03 Service (30 min)
16.21 Special Stage 8 Urria (10.00 km)
16.51 Special Stage 9 Lautaperä (8.80 km)
17.29 Special Stage 10 Jukojärvi (22.31 km)
20.00 Special Stage 11 Killeri 2 (2.06 km)
20.27 Service (45 min)

Saturday 4 August
07.17 Special Stage 12 Kaipolanvuori (12.00 km)
08.30 Special Stage 13 Juupajoki (25.74 km)
09.14 Special Stage 14 Ouninpohja 1 (33.11 km)
11.02 Service (30 min)
12.15 Special Stage 15 Leustu (21.20 km)
13.24 Special Stage 16 Ouninpohja 2 (33.11 km)
14.20 Service (15 min)
15.10 Special Stage 17 Ehikki 1 (14.95 km)
16.23 Special Stage 18 Himos (18.50 km)
17.19 Special Stage 19 Ehikki 2 (14.95 km)
17.54 Special Stage 20 Surkee (15.00 km)
18.40 Service (45 min)

Sunday 5 August
10.15 Special Stage 21 Valkola (13.10 km)
11.07 Special Stage 22 Lankamaa (23.00 km)
12.22 Special Stage 23 Ruuhimäki (7.57 km)
13.30 Finish