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CUPRA · 05-08-2007 , 15:49:33

Rally Finland Leg 3:

Marcus Gronholm made it three stage wins for the day as he went on to win Neste Oil Rally Finland in convincing style. While the remainder of the top five were separated from each other by a few tenths of a second, Gronholm put an exclamation point on his rally by pulling out a 1.7 second advantage on the shortest stage of the day. The rest of the top five followed in the order they had been finishing all day.

Guy Wilks shot up the stage times with a fifth place finish in a last ditch effort to overtake Mads Ostberg. The attempt nearly paid off as Ostberg suffered a broken half shaft during the previous stage effectively turning his Subaru Impreza into a front wheel drive only machine. Wilks had been 38.4 seconds behind at the beginning of the stage and as the split times came in, it seemed the impossible could happen. Unfortunately for Wilks, he simply ran out of stage kilometers as Ostberg finished 14th on the stage, with seven seconds to spare. The Adapt Subaru driver was ecstatic to be done with the rally and more than happy to claim his first ever WRC point.

Urmo Aava also had reason to celebrate as the Estonian earned his first world rally points with a seventh place finish overall. He was eighth on stage.

Matthew Wilson was set for a final stage fight with Andreas Mikkelsen that never came. Mikkelsen went off on stage giving Wilson, who gingerly brought the car to stage finish, the tenth overall position.

Final Positions:

1. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) - Ford Focus RS WRC
2. Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) - Ford Focus RS WRC
3. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) - Citroën C4 WRC
4. Chris Atkinson (Aus) - Subaru Impreza WRC
5. Henning Solberg (Nor) - Ford Focus RS WRC
6. Xavier Pons (Spa) - Subaru Impreza WRC
7. Urmo Aava (Est) - Ford Focus RS WRC
8. Mads Östberg (Nor) - Subaru Impreza WRC