Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen held off a fightback from former three-time Rally Finland winner, Jari-Matti Latvala, in the closing stages to secure a hard-earned second place. Meanwhile, Craig Breen and Scott Martin moved up into eighth position during today’s final leg, whilst Khalid Al Qassimi and Chris Patterson gradually got their feeling back in the car after rejoining under Rally 2 rules.
It’s no easy task to head into the final leg – covering 45.72km on four stages – just 5.4s ahead of a driver of the calibre of Latvala, a three-time winner of the event. However, Mads Østberg managed to pull off the impressive feat of holding off the experienced Finn, thus securing a superb runner-up spot, his best result at the rally after two third places (2013 and 2015). The result was also Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT’s third podium this season, following the second and third places claimed in Sweden and Mexico respectively.
The flying Norwegian confirmed straight away this morning that he meant business: he struck a telling blow with the fastest time on the opening stage of the day, Citroën’s fifth stage win of the weekend, extending his advantage to 6.3s. However, Latvala, close to his best form again at his home round, narrowed the gap to just 2.5s ahead of the Ruuhimäki Power Stage showdown and its unending series of jumps. Yet again, Mads held his nerve to beat the Finn by three tenths after five minutes of intense driving at an average speed of 122.5kph, securing second place by just 2.8s!
Whilst still limited by his position in the running order (3rd), Craig Breen nonetheless set some decent times, especially on SS21 where he missed out on the stage win by 4.2s or on the Power Stage, where he ended 1.7s behind the overall winner. The Irishman also took advantage of the misfortune of one of his rivals to finish eighth overall, at a rally where his own result dealt a body blow at the start with a puncture (SS2).
Back in action today under Rally 2 rules after his mistake on Saturday’s leg, Khalid Al Qassimi concentrated on making it to the end, whilst gradually rebuilding his confidence.