QUENTIN GILBERT HOLDS OFF FIGHTBACK FROM HENRI HAAPAMÄKI

•Led by a flying Henri Haapamäki, on a charge right to the finish, the Finnish clan was beaten by the Frenchman Quentin Gilbert at Rally Finland. •This was Quentin Gilbert’s third win in four events this season. At Jyvaskylä, he finished ahead of the Finn Henri Haapamäki ­– by just half a second – and the Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby. •The next round, held on tarmac, is the Tour de Corse on 1-4 October.

The battle commenced on Thursday evening, Finland against the rest of the world, with a super special stage held in the streets of Jyvaskylä. Leader of the FIA Junior WRC, Quentin Gilbert got off to the best start ahead of his fellow countryman Terry Folb and Henri Haapamäki.

On Friday morning, Haapamäki got into his stride with an opening stage win on Pihlajakoski. He was trailed by the Irishman Daniel McKenna and Jari Huttunen. However, the next test turned the proceedings on their head. Henri Haapamäki picked up a puncture and lost 2m 30s to the Italian Simone Tempestini, who took over the category lead.

The race then took on a whole new form at the start of Ouninpohja. Henri Haapamäki began a run of form worthy of some the greatest Finnish drivers! With six consecutive stage wins, he shot up the standings from tenth to third position. At the front, Quentin Gilbert grabbed the lead at the end of SS4 and began to counter the rapidly closing Haapamäki.

By the end of the opening day, Gilbert was 1m 23s ahead of Ole Christian Veiby and 1m 32s clear of Henri Haapamaki. Federico Della Casa, Jari Huttunen, Jean-René Perry, Terry Folb, Mohammed Al Mutawaa and Simone Tempestini (stopped after going off) completed the standings. Daniel McKenna (radiator leak after a jump), Pierre-Louis Loubet (roll) and Matthieu Margaillan (personal reasons) all retired from the rally.

On Saturday, only Jari Huttunen managed to stop Henri Haapamäki from achieving a clean sweep. Haapamäki racked up another seven consecutive stage wins to finish the leg just 22.8 seconds behind Quentin Gilbert. Federico Della Casa (rolls) and Jari Huttunen (puncture and damaged front suspension) were forced to retire. Third-placed Ole Christian Veiby was followed by Terry Folb, Jean-René Perry and Mohammed Al Mutawaa, all some way back.

The short final day served up an incredibly dramatic finale for the spectators. Quentin Gilbert arrived a minute late at the time control for SS19. Henri Haapamäki claimed another stage win to move to within 2.4 seconds with just the final stage to go. Despite recording a sixteenth stage win out of a total of twenty, Haapamäki missed out on the overall victory, which went to Quentin Gilbert, by just 0.5 seconds! Ole Christian Veiby took the final podium spot and the other points went to Terry Folb, Jean-René Perry, Mohammed Al Mutawaa, Jari Huttunen, Federico Della Casa and Simone Tempestini.

After this fourth event of the season, Quentin Gilbert now has a 33-point lead over Henri Haapamäki. Simone Tempestini is 34 points back and Ole Christian Veiby is 41 points off the lead. In the Nations Trophy, France leads the standings, ahead of Italy and Finland.

The FIA Junior WRC competitors now switch to tarmac for the Tour de Corse on 1-4 October.

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

Quentin Gilbert: “It was really tough up against the Finns! We managed to hold them off by controlling our pace perfectly, although it was really close on the final stage. Since the start of the season, we have had a bit of a safety margin. Here, we really had to go for it to secure the win on the final stage. I knew that we had to keep a tenth ahead. And we finished five tenths clear! This is my greatest win and a superb result for the championship. We’ll now have to prepare well for the Tour de Corse and go for position to try and secure the title.”

Henri Haapamäki: “We tried to put Quentin under pressure right to the end. I drove really well after picking up the puncture and losing time behind Simone Tempestini at the start of the rally. With sixteen stage wins, it was difficult to do much better, really. At the finish, I’m disappointed with the result. Perhaps I’ll feel better about my performance tomorrow.”

PROVISIONAL OVERALL STANDINGS

1. Quentin Gilbert / Renaud Jamoul 2:54:43.6 2. Henri Haapamaki / Marko Salminen +0.5 3. Ole Christian Veiby / Andres Jaeger +3:09.1 4. Terry Folb / Franck Le Floch +9:27.3 5. Jean-René Perry / Joshua Reibel +10:30.3 6. Mohammed Al-Mutawaa / Stephen McAuley +28:16.4 7. Jari Huttunen / Antti Linnaketo +30:17.5 8. Federico Della Casa / Domenico Pozzi +31:48.2 9. Simone Tempestini / Matteo Chiarcossi +43:51.8

FASTEST TIMES

Henri Haapamaki, 16 – Quentin Gilbert,2 – Simone Tempestini and Henri Haapamaki, 1.

LEADERS

SS1: Quentin Gilbert

SS2: Henri Haapamaki

SS3: Simone Tempestini

SS4 to SS20 (finish): Quentin Gilbert

FIA JUNIOR WRC STANDINGS

1. Quentin Gilbert 81 points 2. Henri Haapamaki 48 points 3. Simone Tempestini 47 points 4. Ole Christian Veiby 40 points 5. Jean-René Perry 22 points 6. Federico Della Casa 20 points 7. Christian Riedemann, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Osian Pryce 18 points 10. Mohammed Al-Mutawaa 16 points 11. Matthieu Margaillan and Terry Folb 12 points 13. Yohan Rossel 10 points 14. Alessandro Re and Kornel Lukacs 8 points 16. Jari Huttunen 6 points 17. Charlotte Dalmasso 5 points 18. Daniel McKenna 4 points

NATIONS TROPHY 1.France 93 points 2.Italy 57 points 3.Finland 51 points 4.Norway 45 points 5.Switzerland 30 points 6.United Arab Emirates 20 points 7.Germany and Great Britain 18 points 8.Hungary 16 points 9.Ireland 8 points