Max Vatanen headed to Poland in the firm hope of being able to extend or at least retain his Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy lead, but in the end the event turned into a damage limitation exercise for the Finn – after which he nonetheless salvaged third place.
The 24-year-old showed stage-winning pace in his one-litre turbocharged Ford Fiesta R2, but it all went wrong for him when he encountered a front-left puncture on the longest stage of the rally, the 39 kilometres of Stanczyki, on Friday. He had to struggle all the way to the finish on the wheel rim, with the time loss dropping him to sixth place in the Fiesta standings.
From that point on, all that he and co-driver Jacques-Julien Renucci could do was try and battle their way back up the leaderboard without making mistakes and hope that others hit similar problems. Unfortunately for Max, that didn’t really happen, with his fightback ultimately netting him third place.
Nonetheless, the fact that Max now feels disappointed with a podium shows just how far he has come in a very short space of time, with 2015 being only his second season of full-time rallying after clinching the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy ‘Rookie of the Year’ award in 2014.
“It was a tough rally, no question, and third isn’t a result I’m happy with as we came to this rally to try and win and we had the capability and speed to do so,” says Max. “However, there is no point in being too disappointed either, as we just had a bit of bad luck after hitting a stone and this has always been part of rallying. Although we lost a lot of time because where we had the puncture was the longest stage of the rally, it was the right decision to carry on. If we had stopped to change the wheel, then we would have lost even more time.”
And with the Fiesta championship being so close and competitive this year, even the slightest time loss can have big consequences. Poland contained some of the fastest stages seen all year, making the gaps between the frontrunners even smaller.
“It was a very exciting rally, that’s for sure,” adds Max, who is now second in the Fiesta championship standings. “With the high speeds, it was good preparation for Rally Finland, which is the next event on the championship. For me this will be the highlight of the season: I think the same is true for all the Finnish drivers. And once more, we will definitely be flat-out for victory!”
Rally Finland takes place from July 30-August 2 around Jyvaskyla.
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