Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Mads Ostberg clinched third place at Rally Finland, reaffirming his own third place position in the drivers’ championship with 84 points. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT enhanced its 2nd place in manufacturers’ championship with 141 points. 

Ostberg finished behind winner Jean-Marri Latvala and Championship leader Sebastian Ogier whose thrilling battle at the top ensured the fastest Rally in WRC history.

Norwegian Ostberg did not go flat-out during the final stages of the event with 3rd place well secured, allowing the driver to focus on safely navigate his car through the final stage.

“Finland was an excellent Rally for me. I was focused on cleanly getting the car through to the end,” said Østberg.

“We demonstrated a persistent pace in pursuing the leaders, keeping them under pressure. We also had to contend with the rain and I had quite a few moments on the sections where the grip levels were inconsistent.

“It’s so nice to be at the end now, I enjoyed the whole rally. It feels good to be back and fighting after Poland, I’m really happy to be back on the podium. I hope we can continue to prepare for the other rallies like this.”

Kris Meeke was back under Rally 2 regulations and posted some very quick times as the Briton gained an extra point at the end of the rally for being the 3rd fastest driver in the Power Stage.

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“I always knew the pace was there, I need an extra half percent to keep it together. When that happens, it will be good,” Meeke said.

For Sheikh Khalid bin Faisal Al Qassimi, Rally Finland was an opportunity to gain experience from, saying: “We have learned a lot from the 20 super fast stages we passed through, our pace notes were not really perfect and sometimes were not matching the speed of the stage.

“I lifted up my pace at the final day by 20 percent to see where that will take us, but all in all, it was a fantastic experience.”

Within the JWRC, Abu Dhabi Racing’s junior driver Mohamed Al Mutawaa completed the Rally with minor mistakes in pace notes, moving up to 6th place in the JWRC category for the 2nd Rally in a row.