Katajamaki: Good result but...

Marcus Gronholm's protege, Kosti Katajamaki has said that he could have been 'right up there' at the finish of the Rally Finland on Sunday, if he hadn't had a two encounters with rocks.

Katajamaki was running eighth on Friday when he had his first running with a rock 'bigger than a football' in the final loop - and lost out. That incident broke a rear suspension link on his Stobart VK-backed Ford Focus and as such he had to retire from the opening leg, picking time penalties for missing SS7, SS8 and SS9 and dropping down to 38th position overall - 12 minutes off the top ten.

Katajamaki though came back on Saturday under the SupeRally and despite another running with a rock in SS12, the same one that cost Sebastien Loeb any chance of going for the win, he continued his climb back up the leaderboad and finished the event on Sunday 14th overall. In doing so he picked up the final manufacturers' point for the Stobart squad.

"I was happy with the stage times on the last two days. If it were not for our problems on Friday we would have been right up there for a good result," he confirmed. "I was pushing very hard to get those times and I was learning the car with every stage.

"We had a very good set-up with the car and the M-Sport mechanics did a fantastic job to repair the car after we hit the rocks. I am getting better and better all the time in the car and my confidence grows all the time. I don't have many chances to drive this car and I need to show what I can do every time I'm in it. It was a good rally for me, but it could have been better."

In total Katajamaki set a number of good stage times, especially on days two and three - overall he managed 13 top ten times, his best a fourth quickest time on Ouninpohja Lansi 1 [SS11] on Saturday.