Jari Ketomaa bagged his second successive victory in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship in Portugal with a commanding margin over S-WRC series leader Xevi Pons in a similar Ford Fiesta.
Ketomaa finished 3m32.2s in front of his Spanish rival after a near-faultless drive on the demanding gravel stages.
Apart from a few minor mechanical niggles, little troubled the Finn and co-driver Mika Stenberg, especially when several of the expected S-WRC frontrunners hit trouble.
- We had good fight on Friday stages, but then other drivers had either mechanical problems or they made some mistakes. After that we had a big lead so it was important not to take any risks, said Ketomaa.
- We had a small leak with the exhaust on Sunday morning but fortunately I did not need to attack so it was not really a problem. The event was very rough for rally cars and also my team had to make a lot of work during services.
- This result is really good for me and Shanghai FCACA World Rally Team for the championship. Now we have summer break and my next S-WRC event is my home race, Rally Finland.
Pons is leading series with 86 points in the bag. Ketomaa has driven only three events, one less than Pons, and Finnish Champion has 58 points and he is second in the series. P-G Andersson is third with 50 points.
- Jarno Saari -
Q: Jari congratulations - two wins in a row!
JK: Thank you so much. It was a hard rally and the best thing was the team kept our car in good condition and it lasted until the end. I don't complain about myself at the moment, either.
Q: We expected the competition to be close in S-WRC this weekend, however the gaps in the overall classification were sizable. You seemed to stay out of the trouble that some of the other drivers found?
JK: Well, it started close on Friday. The gaps between me, Nasser (Al Attiyah) and Andersson weren't big. So with those guys, if there hadn't been any mistakes, it would have been a tough battle. But on Friday I was getting used to the notes. It was my first time here and then on Saturday, the plan was to push and see if we can achieve more and get closer to Nasser and give more pressure. It's rallying, anything can happen - that's the reason for the gap.
Q: It's been a tough event-have there been any problems at all for the Fiesta S2000?
JK: Yeah, well. On Friday and Saturday morning I wasn't looking after the car. I was pushing so much, but after that we reduce the speed when the gap was two minutes to the next car. Our biggest issue was Saturday evening; we missed some oil from the steering on the road section after the last stage - that was lucky this didn't happen in the stage. The guys fixed the problem. We also had a problem yesterday evening with a leaking exhaust manifest. All these small things can cause something, but everybody needs a bit of luck - we had it and we won.
Q: What do you think for the Championship now?
JK: The most important is that we can win the rallies and be strong. I will do my best on each stage on every rally. I will do my best and try to be in the position to fight with Xevi (Pons) to win. But it's so far away, so many corners to come - it would be a nice year.
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