Markko Martin has held on to win Rally Finland (his second WRC win) by 58 seconds over Petter Solberg. Despite what Solberg said in the service park today and yesterday (he would just fight for third place as Richard Burn’s Peugeot was just too quick), Solberg won the last stage and beat Burns by over a second. Burns just couldn’t keep up with Solberg on the last stage, despite winning a trio stages on the day. Carlos Sainz ran into suspension problems on the final stages, and lost over a minute to Burns and Solberg, but he will still pull in a nice haul of points for the driver’s championship.

Sebastien Loeb had a fine rally, despite this being his second trip to Finland, finishing in 5th place. Tommi Makinen had a frustrating home rally, never feeling that his Impreza was handling well, though he still took 6th place. A pack of Finnish WRC irregulars took 7th, 8th, and 9th place. Hyundai had a good rally, with Freddy Loix taking 10th place, and Armin Schwarz taking 12th. Skoda didn’t finish a car again, with Toni Gardenmeister retiring on day 2.

So, Richard Burns maintains a slim lead in the driver’s championship, but it will be an exciting fall. He holds a four point lead over Carlos Sainz, and Sainz is six points ahead of Solberg and Gronholm. And thanks to Gronholm’s retirement, Citroen is having a run at it in the manufacturer’s championship, trailing Peugeot by only four points. Subaru and Ford are tied for third with sixty points apiece.

The championship moves to Australia next month, before a final string of tarmac rallies and the Rally Great Britain to close out the season.

Posted on 10 August 2003