Max Vatanen keeps 100 per cent record in Wales Rally GB 16.11.2015: Fast Finn Max Vatanen set some blistering times on last weekend’s Wales Rally

Fast Finn Max Vatanen set some blistering times on last weekend’s Wales Rally GB. He and co-driver Jacques-Julien Renucci finished second in their class on the final round of the World Rally Championship.


More pleasing to Vatanen and Renucci was their 100 per cent record. The Ford Fiesta R2 crew finished every stage that they started through the 2015 season, and that means they finished each of the 11 rallies they contested.


“That’s what you have to aim for,” says Vatanen. “For a young driver it’s important to build up your experience. At the same time you want to drive flat out and show what you can do. So to go flat out but not make a mistake and crash shows we can balance our speed with getting to the end of the events.”


That 100 per cent record was very close to being lost on Friday, as a clutch problem almost caught Vatanen out on the final stage of the day: “We had to be careful in the last few miles of that stage, Myherin 2. We lost a lot of time, but we were happy to get to the end.”


Unfortunately the car wouldn’t start once Renucci had handed in the pair’s time card at the end of the test. That meant they had to re-start on Saturday morning under Rally 2 regulations.


It didn’t stop Vatanen and Renucci from pushing hard throughout the remainder of the event though, despite the howling wind and torrential rain in Wales. “It was a very challenging rally,” says Vatanen. “We didn’t expect it to be that difficult, it was one of the most challenging gravel events I’ve ever done.


“It was like a mixture of the changing grip that you have on the Monte Carlo Rally and the high speed and flowing roads that you have in Finland.


“The wind was a big problem, even on the road sections it was blowing the car. But it was nice conditions for a rally, you learn a lot. It was important to reach the end as so many cars had problems. By the end of the second day, half the entry was out.”


Max, who is supported by the MAXRALLY website, finished third in the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy this season. He won the Portuguese round, and was in the title hunt until the final event in Spain. He will now focus on his 2016 MSA British Rally Championship campaign.

-Anthony Peacock,  photo Vatanen