22 Sep 12

Wales
Rally GB:
five
things we
learned

Without a win in the FIA World Rally Championship since Rally Sweden in February, the factory Ford squad hit back on Wales Rally GB. Here are some of the other things learned during the WRC's annual visit to the United Kingdom.

1: Fiesta’s pace proved at last

Any doubts Ford’s Fiesta RS WRC couldn’t perform in the cut and thrust of the world championship were disproved courtesy of Jari-Matti Latvala’s dominant victory on Wales Rally GB. With team-mate Petter Solberg (pictured right with Latvala) losing out on the runner-up spot by 0.9s, this was an extremely impressive effort by the Blue Oval’s works outfit.

2: Breen’s bravery indisputable

Craig Breen’s bravery continues to astound. Less than three months since his best friend and former co-driver Gareth Roberts was killed when they crashed on the Targa Florio Rally in Sicily, the 22-year-old overcame myriad emotions to claim Super 2000 World Rally Championship honours.

3: Tanak remains error prone

Barely a handful of weeks after his excellent showing on ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Ott Tanak blew a top six finish with a late error.

4: Abbring and Wilson haven’t lost it

Absent from the WRC for several months, Kevin Abbring and Matthew Wilson were both back on world championship duty on Wales Rally GB and both impressed with Wilson bagging WRC points on his first competitive outing since Rallye Monte-Carlo in January.

5: Hirvonen back to stage-winning ways

Following an off-song performance in Germany last month, Citroen number two Mikko Hirvonen was expected to star in Wales. Despite being out of the limelight for much of the rally, he hit back with victory on the event-closing Power Stage. With Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg dicing for second place at the time this was no mean achievement.