JYVASKYLA // Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi may not be challenging at the top of the standings here, but he was grinning from ear to ear after yesterday's stages. The Emirati driver finished the day 12th in his BP-Ford Abu Dhabi car. Having started the day 15th he dropped down to 18th following a spin in the third stage of the day before hauling his way back up the field.
But Qassimi did not care about the spin or his position: he was beaming after a mammoth jump which was well over 50 metres - he appeared to land around the 55 metre spot - during stage 15 at Lesustu. "The car was really high off the ground, so much so that I couldn't see any of the crowd below. I thought that there would be a big impact on the car when I landed but it was fine," he said. "We had a moment on one of the corners of stage 15 where I went into a bush, so I got back on the track and gave it everything and was going flat out in fifth gear when I hit the jump. I saw the crowd had been really cheering so I was pleased."
Qassimi's teammate Mikko Hirvonen's hopes of claiming a win slipped away, as he struggled to make ground on the leader Sebastien Loeb. Hirvonen began the day 14.4secs behind the Frenchman, and despite claiming several stage wins was 18.2secs behind after the final stage. With just three stages to be held today, he will have to put in the drive of his life if he is to overhaul his French rival. "I'm enjoying the fight. I've been driving as hard as I could and I've not made any mistakes, however I'm a little frustrated that I couldn't do any more," he said.
"The speed has been absolutely crazy, I'm flat out everywhere and taking huge risks. I'm following Loeb's lines and I can see that he too is right on the edge." Jari-Matta Latvala also returned to action as a Superally entrant yesterday, after crashing out early on Friday morning. His right-hand steering broke after he hit a rock following a jump in the third stage, and although he attempted to drive on spun into a ditch.
He took a while to regain his confidence, but recorded the fastest times in stages 16 and 17 as he claimed three stage wins to show he could have been challenging for the race lead if it was not for his early accident. @Email:lthornhill@thenational.ae
