Citroen Total Abu Dhabi driver Mads Ostberg retired from Rally Finland when the roll cage of his DS3 was found to be damaged during the mid-leg service in Jyvaskyla yesterday afternoon.
The Norwegian reported a “massive impact” with a rock in Leustu (Special Stage 18) immediately before service. When the car was subsequently examined by FIA scrutineers, they found the damage.
“I can’t express how gutted I feel,” said Ostberg.
“We didn’t have the best start to the rally, but made progress all the way and this morning we had a great rhythm and the pace was good. We were on course for a big battle with Andreas (Mikkelsen) and Mikko (Hirvonen).”
At the time of his retirement, Ostberg was running fifth in the overall pecking order and was fighting for third and fourth with Mikkelsen and Hirvonen, respectively.
Volkswagen Polo R and Ford Fiesta drivers Mikkelsen and Hirvonen were the immediate beneficiaries of Ostberg’s retirement, moving one step up to fourth and fifth.
In fact, on the previous test, the Special Stage 17, Ostberg was 2.4sec quicker than Hirvonen and would most likely have caught up with the Finn had it not been for the accident.
Citroen Racing deputy team principal Marek Nawarecki said the impact happened when the car landed after a jump and the suspension was compressed.
“We carried out a thorough investigation of the front right suspension, but in fact the impact was underneath the car on the undertray,” Nawarecki added.
“This damaged part of the roll cage in the engine bay. It’s not something we’re able to fix here, so we have no choice but to withdraw his car.”
On the same stage, a large hole just after the midpoint caused issues for several drivers. Kris Meeke, Robert Kubica, Elfyn Evans and Henning Solberg all hit it, the latter two suffering punctures on their Ford Fiesta RS cars.
