French duo Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb finished second and third respectively in the Rally Finland and remain at the top of the overall standings in the World Rally Championship 2010.
The race was won by home favourite Jari-Matti Latvala, who withstood late pressure from Ogier to secure an emotional victory by a shade over 10 seconds.
Ogier won the final stage of the rally from Loeb, but was unable to reduce the defecit on Latvala significantly enough to alter the overall placings, however he was thrilled with the result.
“It’s a fantastic weekend for me to finish second and better than expected for sure,” Ogier said. "Jari-Matti [Latvala] was incredibly fast but it’s the perfect result for me.”
Loeb meanwhile gave his bid for a seventh world title a considerable boost with third place in his Citroen C4. The French driver struggled on Friday morning when the loss of his car’s front splitter caused a handling imbalance and he was also slowed by running first on the road on day one.
“Third place is not what we prefer but I did not come here especially for the win,” Loeb said. “It’s not my rally I know because it’s difficult for me and third place for the championship is not so bad.”
Spain's Dani Sordo secured fifth place overall on his first run with the Citroen Junior Team, but he was far from pleased with the result: “Fifth is not bad but I am not happy with my performance," he said. "The car was good, not always perfect, but after a very good test and the first stages there was no more from me. We need to be better the next time.”
Rally Finland 2010 results
1) J-M Latvala (FIN) 2h 31m 29.6s
2) S Ogier (FRA) +10.1s
3) S Loeb (FRA) +26.0s
4) P Solberg (NOR) +30.7s
5) D Sordo (SPA) +1m 45s
World Rally Championship overall standings (after Finland)
1) S Loeb (FRA) 166 points
2) S Ogier (FRA) 118
3) J-M Latvala (FIN) 105
4) P Solberg (NOR) 90
5) M Hirvonen (FIN) 86
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