Hi,

We have successfully completed a very long, but good day 1 of Rally Finland.  We are currently sitting 22nd overall and 3rd PWRC, only 0.7 seconds behind 2nd and with a fast local closing in from behind.

We have had no major problems today.  On the morning loop of four stages we were suffering from a bad vibration through the car, which was the result of 3 bent rims from 3 different impacts with rocks.  On one of these I was amazed that the Pirelli tyre stayed inflated and nothing else broke, such was the size of the rock and the impact.

We have been consistently in the top 5 PWRC times all day, including two top 3 stage times.  I had high expectations coming into this event, but I really underestimated just how quick the locals and Scandinavians are here, on an event most of them are quite familiar with.  A fair example of this is stage 7/9 today, which was a brand new stage that had never been used before.  Despite struggling for a bit of a rhythm, we set top 3 PWRC stage times both times through and each time were only 1-2 seconds off the stage win.

So, all in all, it has been an okay day, but there is certainly a small feeling of disappointment that we haven’t found the extra speed that I know we have.  However, tomorrow is another day and we now have a very tough battle with two very fast local drivers to secure a PWRC podium place.  Tomorrow is also a long day, so there is plenty of rallying left to make up time, learn and gain experience for future events.  So far though, we are all on target.

The spectators here have been absolutely crazy.  It is like the whole of Finland has come to the rally to party.  The spectators today wouldn’t just be counted in the thousands, but hundreds of thousands.  One of the stages in particular at the start and finish had a parked line of spectator’s vehicles of 5km and that did not include all the spectators at the main vantage points in the stage.  It has been a great experience and also a real buzz to see my family and the Rally Tours group all wearing Team Green clothing and waving the New Zealand flag, cheering us on.

Thanks everyone and I will keep you posted tomorrow. 

Hayden

Tags: rally, team, WRC

Posted in WRC
No Comments Yet Posted by Hayden Paddon