It’s hard to fathom just how close the World Rally Championship is, and last weekend’s Rally Finland was a case in point.
At the completion of the event’s eighth stage, and after nearly 53 minutes of competitive driving, Jari-Matti Latvala led the event in his Toyota.
Incredibly, three drivers lay in equal second place, just 0.6 of a second behind Latvala – his team-mates Ott Tanak and Kris Meeke, and Citroen’s Esapekka Lappi.
Four stages later, after stage 12, it was Tanak who led, but by just 0.5 of a second, and the top four were covered by 2.3 seconds after over 71 minutes of stages.
Just think about that for a moment …… 2.3 seconds after 71 minutes.
This would be an incredible statistic on a flat, straight piece of road, but over 12 of the fastest, most undulating and dangerous stages in the world, it really is simply amazing.
You wonder how it can be. Sure, three of those cars are from the same team and would be the same specification, yet you’d expect all three would have slightly different set ups.
All four drivers have different driving styles, braking points and techniques, yet they were nearly equal.
As I said, it’s hard to fathom, but congratulations to the FIA and the WRC Promotor for getting the rules so right.
Not unexpectedly, Finland provided a few surprises. Lappi and Mikkelsen’s returns to form was long overdue, while Thierry Neuville dropped time on the opening stage that he was never able to recover.
Craig Breen impressed on his Hyundai debut, eventually conceding a place on the final day to assist Neuville’s title hopes, and Kris Meeke twice damaged the suspension on his Toyota and failed to finish.
It was a miserable event for M-Sport with Teemu Suninen well off the pace and down on confidence, while Gus Greensmith’s last day crash dampened what had been, until then, a promising drive.
M-Sport’s more concerning worries are Elfyn Evans’ lack of fitness due to a back injury he sustained in Estonia, which could yet breathe life into Hayden Paddon’s WRC career.
“We would like to say that Elfyn will be back in time for Germany, but I think that is highly unlikely,” Wilson said before Rally Finland.
“I would like to think he will be back for Turkey, but I think we have got to wait and see what his progress in the next six weeks is. He is certainly going to be out for a while.
“Regarding Hayden Paddon, that is a difficult question. I think a lot depends on what happens with Elfyn and what happens here (in Finland) on this event.
“We are certainly looking forward to getting him in our car.”
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and for Paddon’s sake, let’s hope that’s the case here.
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