Mikko Hirvonen
Mikko Hirvonen
Mikko Hirvonenis a Finnish former rally driver who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 he finished runner-up to Sébastien Loeb. Hirvonen's co-driver has been Jarmo Lehtinen since the 2003 season...
advantage bled brakes cleaning cuts driving felt finish four front further improved maybe needed pedal roads running soft stage start steady sure
The roads are soft and there is no advantage in running further down the start order. They are not cleaning like we thought they would. I'm driving at a steady pace, which was the plan. The brake pedal felt soft on stage four so I bled the front brakes after the finish and that improved things. I'm not sure about my tyre choice. Maybe I needed cuts like Marcus.
agile battle centre changes either enjoy feels fight focus goes good last night turning
The fight goes on! I enjoy a good battle and I don't think either of them is going to give up just yet. We made some set-up changes to the centre differential last night and in turning the Focus feels more agile now.
backwards centre lots round wrong
I've had lots of problems. There's something wrong with the centre differential and the handbrake, and I had to shunt backwards and forwards to get round all the hairpins.
confidence dry fifth fun good great hard hated hold ice knew morning moved problems pushed quite result snow stage start weekend
The first stage this morning was great fun because there was a lot of snow and ice - but then I really hated the dry sections! I pushed hard in that stage because I had good confidence in those conditions, and not quite so hard in the other two. Once I moved into seventh, then I knew I could hold that position. It was a hard weekend and a good one, but it could have been better for me. Without problems and mistakes, I think fifth could have been possible, but considering all that and the weather, this is a really good result and a great start to the season.
confidence drive easy focus good loved similar today
Today has been good for my confidence. The Focus RS is easy to drive and I loved it out there. I have so much confidence in it and it's encouraging to set times similar to Loeb and Solberg.