The third round of the 2008 Finnish Rally Championship (FRC) was held on 7th-8th March in Nilsia. This rally is known to be the last in the Finnish winter season and included a special stage held on the Friday 7th. This intense special stage consisted of 5 machines starting within 10second intervals on an icy track.
There were high expectations for both K. Katajamaki and J.Salo, after completing the first 2 rounds of the year brilliantly. K. Katajamaki started the rally very strong with 3rd fastest time in SS1 and the top time in SS2. The high expectations of J.Salo did not last very long, as he crashed his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.IX into a snow bank during SS3, and ended up retiring from the rally.
The bad luck continued for the TEIN users as K. Katajamaki was given a 3 minute penalty for going into the TC 3 minutes too early. K. Katajamaki kept fighting on furiously, finishing in the top 10 for every stage. He even had the 2nd fastest time for the final SS8, but was unable to make up for the time lost. Though he finished in 7th overall, he efforts in the first two rounds keep him in second place in the points standings. We look forward to the TEIN users to come back strong in the next round. |
