Abu Dhabi: Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers occupied third and fourth positions at the end of day two of Rally Finland — the eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship — on Friday.
The day consisted of nine stages with a total length of 157.63km. Briton Kris Meeke of the Abu Dhabi team was leading after special stage 2 and he won special stage seven, but he ended up third behind championship leader Sebastien Ogier and Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala.
Meeke’s teammate, the Norwegian Mads Ostberg moved up from eighth to fourth overall aboard his DS3 WRC.
The team’s final driver, Shaikh Khalid Bin Faisal Al Qasimi, was focused on building up speed and confidence with every stage and was lucky to escape a trip into a ditch on special stage 3. “The stages are super-fast,” he said. “I’m building my confidence gradually after a four-year absence from Rally Finland, where at some point you have to lift off to avoid mistakes.
“There are drivers pushing beyond the limits and this is the only way to set fast times at Rally Finland, which is full of blind corners, blind crests and high jumps across forests and dense trees. In general I hoped I would get more confidence on the repeat loop but, passing so many crashed cars, it didn’t happen. Hopefully it will come tomorrow.”
Meeke was also delighted with his showing, saying: “Finland is a wonderful place to race aboard WRC cars. I had good feelings all day, posting some excellent times with every stage driven. In general we feel very confident.”
In the Junior WRC, Abu Dhabi Racing’s Mohammad Al Mutaiwee was steadily increasing his speed and he finished the day in ninth.
