Sun August 8, 2004

 Jani scores best ever result in Fabia Rally Finland saw the Škoda Motorsport Team achieve the best ever result with the Fabia WRC at this level with three cars at the finish. Jani Paasonen, Toni Gardemeister and Armin Schwarz finished the 382.71kms of high-speed gravel stages in positions 6, 8 and 12 respectively. J...

 Corrado signs first win for 307 Peugeot has eventually managed to take the first victory for the Peugeot 307. It was a very convincing display with a 3 car team that at times during leg1 occupied the top3 places. However soon there was a real worry if the 307 should be hit by its usual fate. Harri Rovanperä won...

 Points haul for Ford in Finland

 Bosse is boss of Finland

 Jani stays on the pace

NEWS JUST IN

 Makes title battle @ 06:53 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Finland: 1st Citroen 109points // 2nd Ford 83 // 3rd Subaru 64 // 4th Peugeot 61 // 5th Mitsubishi 17

 Drivers title battle @ 06:49 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Finland: 1st Loeb 66points // 2nd Solberg 44 // 3rd Märtin 42 // 4th Grönholm 42 // 5th Sainz 40 // 6th Duval 31 // 7th Hirvonen 18 // 8th Tuohino 16 // 9th Rovanperä 14 // 10th Carlsson 6

 FIN end - Grönholm & 307 win! @ 06:39 AM - 307 wins with a time of 307 and a bit! Unofficial, provisional final positions: 1. Grönholm 3:07:16.1 2. Märtin +34.7 3. Sainz +1:44.5 4. Loeb +2:23.3 5. Tuohino +2:36.7 6. Paasonen +4:36.2 7. Duval +5:51.0 8. Gardemeister +6:03.2 9. Carlsson +6:41.1 10. H Solberg +7:04.6

 FIN SS21 - Hot battle for 7-8-9 @ 06:09 AM - Grönholm leads by 39.1s with one stage to go. There still is a massive battle for 7th, 8th & 9th, on SS19 Gardemeister took 7th of Carlsson, SS20 Duval took 8th of Carlsson, SS21 Duval took 7th of Gardemeister. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS21: 1. Grönholm 2:55:08.7 2. Märtin +39.1 3. Sainz +1:44.0 4. Loeb +2:15.4 5. Tuohino +2:34.8 6. Paasonen +4:12.0 7. Duval +5:56.6 8. Gardemeister +5:57.6 9. Carlsson +6:14.2 10. H Solberg +6:54.5

Sat August 7, 2004

 FIN leg2 results, leg3 start order

 Battling Märtin jumps to second BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Markko Märtin and Michael Park continued to defy the odds to end the second day of the Rally Finland in second place. Despite not being fully fit as he continues his recovery from last month's massive accident in Argentina, the 28-year-old Est...

 Crazy rally again for Peugeot Indeed crazy is very much the theme of this story. Both remaining Peugeot drivers before leg2 as well as Peugeot’s own fate had their very crazy moments today. With 4 stages and less than 100km remaining, the Peugeot 307 WRC once again is leading a WRC event. Could this be it, th...

 Flying high and low on leg2 How fantastic to have the WRC season back on smooth, high speed surfaces. After months of gravel so rough that you could only win in slowing down and make sure your car survives, in Finland we see some real performance. Split second battles head to head. The leading Peugeot team ...

NEWS JUST IN

 FIN SS17 - last proper stage of the day @ 12:20 AM - Grönholm extends lead slightly. Loeb pulls away from Tuohino, as well slightly. H.Solberg spins, which means Panizzi is now less than 5s from the top10. And the gap between the 7th place trio of Carlsson-Gardemeister-Duval narrows to 9.4s. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS17: 1. Grönholm 2:20:17.0 2. Märtin +36.3 3. Sainz +1:24.8 4. Loeb +1:56.8 5. Tuohino +2:03.2 6. Paasonen +2:53.4 7. Carlsson +5:10.8 8. Gardemeister +5:13.9 9. Duval +5:20.2 10. H Solberg +5:56.3

 FIN SS16 - longest stage shows impact @ 11:24 AM - Hot battle between Märtin and Grönholm, followed by the Citroens. Loeb overtakes Tuohino. Duval got a 50s time penalty for late out of service when changing exhaust. This drops Duval behind Carlsson and Gardemeister. However Carlsson himself had a spin and stalled the engine. The result: the trio is seperated by 11.9s, fighting for 7th. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS16: 1. Grönholm 2:13:05.0 2. Märtin +34.6 3. Sainz +1:22.6 4. Loeb +1:53.5 5. Tuohino +1:56.4 6. Paasonen +2:42.9 7. Carlsson +4:58.1 8. Gardemeister +5:01.3 9. Duval +5:10.0 10. H Solberg +5:28.7

 FIN SS15 - Grönholm maintains lead @ 08:02 AM - Mixed emotions at Ford. Märtin wins stage but Duval drops 1m30 since flattening his exhaust on the Ouninpohja yump while Tuohino is unhappy with his driving and Loeb closes in big style. Now it's service, but then it's the longest stage of the rally: SS16 Moksi-Leustu at 41km near twice as long as the longest stage yesterday! Unofficial, provisional positions after SS15: 1. Grönholm 1:52:34.8 2. Märtin +31.1 3. Sainz +1:11.0 4. Tuohino +1:35.3 5. Loeb +1:37.7 6. Paasonen +2:09.6 7. Duval +3:41.8 8. Carlsson +4:04.0 9. Gardemeister +4:18.0 10. H Solberg +4:45.9

 FIN SS14 - Funny Grönholm attack @ 07:08 AM - Sohlberg rolls out, Grönholm struggles on with gearbox problems, but loses only 6.2s. Grönholm at stage finish: "The hottest attack of my life, I have no 4th gear, top speed 160km/h!" - he still averaged 128km/h!!!! Unofficial, provisional positions after SS14: 1. Grönholm 1:47:07.4 2. Märtin +36.2 3. Sainz +1:13.7 4. Tuohino +1:31.4 5. Loeb +1:38.1 6. Paasonen +2:07.2 7. Duval +3:14.3 8. Carlsson +4:01.2 9. Gardemeister +4:14.1 10. H Solberg +4:43.0

 Ouninpohja bites again! @ 06:37 AM - Kristian Sohlberg was an amazing 5th quickest in his Mitsubishi on Ouninpohja1. Probably spurred by that, he went too quick this time and rolled out of the rally. Re-fresh for updates!

 FIN SS13 - Märtin wins stage @ 05:11 AM - Märtin wins the stage, but Tuohino complains of engine cutting out and Grönholm has gear selection problems - not good with the 2nd run of Ouninpohja next. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS13: 1. Grönholm 1:31:30.2 2. Märtin +42.3 3. Sainz +1:19.9 4. Tuohino +1:32.0 5. Loeb +1:37.3 6. Paasonen +1:55.0 7. Duval +2:08.2 8. Sohlberg +2:19.9 9. Carlsson +3:41.0 10. Gardemeister +4:01.9

 FIN SS12 - no end to Peugeot jinx! @ 02:00 AM - Basti Lindholm crashed and is now confirmed to be out of the rally (crew is OK). But what is this? All these strong shows and no results for the 307. Frustrating. It would just be typical if Grönholm retired on Ouninpohja2, SS14. Otherwise uncharacteristically little drama for ouninpohja. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS12: 1. Grönholm 1:26:44.2 2. Märtin +45.8 3. Sainz +1:17.7 4. Tuohino +1:22.1 5. Loeb +1:38.8 6. Paasonen +1:48.8 7. Duval +2:05.9 8. Sohlberg +2:15.4 9. Carlsson +3:35.1 10. Gardemeister +3:57.4

 Lindholm out! @ 01:42 AM - Argh, I tried to lift the jinx with the message below, but Ounonpohja stays a jinx stage for Peugeot. Sebastian Lindholm crashed and is likely out of the rally!

 Next Ounonpohja @ 01:08 AM - Just to prepare of what is ahead: Next stage is SS12 Ouninpohja, which will be repeated as SS14. Ouninpohja is a 33.24km classic that traditionally provides drama. This stage contains the famous jump that claimed Burns in 2002. In 2003 this stage saw the end of Rovanperä and Grönholm. Will the Peugeots keep it together this time?

 FIN SS11 - good breakfast fo Citreon @ 00:48 AM - They couldn't touch the Peugeots this time, but the stage went much better than yesterday for Citroen. The order of fastest stage times: Grönholm-Lindholm-Märtin-Sainz-Loeb. The stage times of Tuohino and Paasonen are far from useless but both Citroens gain one place overall. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS11: 1. Grönholm 1:11:13.1 2. Lindholm +19.1 3. Märtin +37.1 4. Sainz +1:04.2 5. Tuohino +1:04.9 6. Loeb +1:15.2 7. Paasonen +1:22.5 8. Duval +1:28.9 9. Sohlberg +1:55.1 10. Carlsson +2:42.0

Fri August 6, 2004

 FIN leg1 results, leg2 start order

 Paasonen stars on day one The Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team is holding positions 6, 13 and 15 after the first nine forest stages (117.59 kms) of Rally Finland and ahead of the Killeri superspecial. Jani Paasonen leads team mates Toni Gardemeister and Armin Schwarz and is currently 51.7 seconds behind ...

 Ford shine in sunny Finland BP-Ford World Rally Team ended today's breathless opening leg of the Rally Finland in third and fourth overall. Markko Märtin and Michael Park, still recovering from last month's massive accident in Argentina, lie third in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. Janne Tuohin...

 Funny Finnish finish to leg1 Funny Finnish finish to leg1 indeed. Rarely before has a super special stage thrown the results upside down like that. But in order. Funny was already the start of the day when in about every team it was the 2nd or even 3rd driver to take control of the team’s interests. For Peug...

 Peugeot quotes after SS6

 Peugeot quotes after SS3

NEWS JUST IN

 FIN leg1 - Hirvonen crashes in show stag @ 01:18 PM - Only a show stage. We still have position changes as Hirvonen managed to hit a barrier quite heavily and retire the last remaining Subaru. Tuohino also had a truobled run and dropped behind Märtin. The old story, in these super specials you can't win anything but you can lose evrything, so why bother? Unofficial, provisional positions after leg1: 1. Grönholm 59:08.6 2. Lindholm +18.6 3. Märtin +28.4 4. Tuohino +42.4 5. Sainz +51.3 6. Paasonen +56.5 7. Loeb +1:01.2 8. Duval +1:01.7 9. Sohlberg +1:27.4 10. Carlsson +2:14.0

 FIN SS9 - Loeb moves into points @ 11:20 AM - With only a show stage left for day1 Loeb passes Duval to move into a points position for the first time all rally. Märtin moves to within 1.2s of team mate Tuohino. Warmbold retired, suspension. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS9: 1. Grönholm 57:47.6 2. Lindholm +17.0 3. Tuohino +29.5 4. Märtin +30.7 5. Hirvonen +48.6 6. Paasonen +51.7 7. Sainz +52.9 8. Loeb +1:01.5 9. Duval +1:01.9 10. Sohlberg +1:27.2

 FIN SS8 - Holding station, but its tight @ 10:39 AM - Unofficial, provisional positions after SS8: 1. Grönholm 51:00.0 2. Lindholm +12.6 3. Tuohino +26.0 4. Märtin +27.5 5. Hirvonen +39.5 6. Paasonen +41.2 7. Sainz +48.2 8. Duval +54.6 9. Loeb +56.2 10. Sohlberg +1:18.3

 FIN SS7 - Gaps get bigger @ 10:14 AM - Short stage, Grönholm fastest, Carlsson hits the same rock as Grönholm, but it didn't speed him up. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS7: 1. Grönholm 43:39.2 2. Lindholm +8.6 3. Tuohino +18.0 4. Märtin +24.5 5. Hirvonen +31.0 6. Paasonen +32.3 7. Sainz +39.7 8. Duval +46.9 9. Loeb +52.5 10. Sohlberg +1:04.9

 FIN SS6 - Bosse now Boss @ 08:03 AM - Harri Rovanperä went off in big style with the stage finish in sight. Until then he was quickest. Rovanperä continues but lost 2 minutes. Grönholm now leads with Lindholm 2nd, Rovanperä down in 13th. Amazing Paasonen only 4s off the pace in this stage and takes now 5th overall for Skoda! Unofficial, provisional positions after SS6: 1. Grönholm 39:59.6 2. Lindholm +3.6 3. Tuohino +13.2 4. Märtin +22.2 5. Paasonen +26.0 6. Hirvonen +26.7 7. Sainz +34.8 8. Duval +43.7 9. Loeb +45.6 10. Sohlberg +57.3

 Rovanperä off - update @ 07:39 AM - Harri Rovanperä has gone off near the end of SS6! He can carry on but lost around 2 minutes. Update: Despite original thoughts to the contrary, Rovanperä has been retired at service.