Round 6 of the Finland Rally Championship (FRC) was held from August 29th to 30th in Uusikaupunki, a small city located in south west Finland.
With only 2 rounds left in the season, TYPE Gr.N equipped users and teammates J.Salo and K.Katajamäki head in to the 6th round with 46points and 43points respectively. K.Katajamäki is 1st equal in the overall standings with J.Ketomaa, while J.Salo closely follows in 3rd.
J.Salo's start to the rally was not the easiest of starts as he was the first car out on the course. This meant it would be more slippery for him out on the fresh course and be slightly disadvantaged. On the third stage (super special stage) J.Salo lost traction of his Lancer Evo.IX, and drove off the course, stalling his car. When he eventually got back on track he had lost 15 valuable seconds. He rejoined the rally with 18.7 second deficit behind the leader K.Katajamäki.
J.Salo and co-driver M.Stenberg started their fight to make up for the lost time. J.Salo took control of the rally in the next three stages, and closed the gap between him and teammate K.Katajamäki to just 5.6 seconds with only two stages left.
In the end, K.Katajamäki held on to his 5.5 second lead and finished in 1st position. J.Salo finished in 2nd position and this meant the top two finishers were TYPE Gr.N equipped cars. J.Salo commented, "It was not an easy rally for us. Due to third stage mistake, we were forced to drive after the lost seconds all rally through"
With only one round left in the 2008 season, K.Katajamäki leads the championship on 70points, just one point ahead of J.Salo. The championship will now be decided in the final round and we wish both TYPE Gr.N users all the best!!! |
