Register | Sign in

Home
News
Drivers
- Current Drivers
- Max Verstappen
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Lando Norris
- Pierre Gasly
- Sergio Perez
- Fernando Alonso
- Charles Leclerc
- Lance Stroll
- Kevin Magnussen
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Alexander Albon
- Guanyu Zhou
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Esteban Ocon
- Franco Colapinto
- Lewis Hamilton
- Carlos Sainz
- George Russell
- Valtteri Bottas
- Oscar Piastri
- Test/Reserve Drivers
Teams
Tracks
Seasons
Pictures
- Latest Galleries
- 2024 Sao Paulo Practice
- 2024 Mexico City GP
- 2024 Mexico Saturday
- 2024 Mexico Practice
- 2024 United States GP
- 2024 United States Saturday
- 2024 United States Friday
- 2024 Singapore GP
- 2024 Singapore Saturday
- 2024 Singapore Practice
- Gallery Categories
- 2024 Season
- 2023 Season
- 2022 Season
- All galleries
Stats
JOHNNYBET

Bottas fifth on rally debut

NEWS STORY
27/01/2019

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has made his rally debut, finishing fifth overall in the Arctic Lapland Rally, the opening round of the Finnish Rally Championship.

Though a 'rally rookie', the Finn had an advantage over his rivals in that he was at the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC - in similar spec to M-Sport’s WRC drivers - while his rivals, though more experienced, were mostly at the wheel of cars used in WRC2

Nonetheless, alongside co-driver, two-time WRC champion Timo Rautiainen, Bottas claimed a stage win and went on to finish fifth overall, despite a slow start.

The rally, which was won by Emil Lindholm in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, was also contested by former F1 driver Mika Salo, the former Tyrrell, Arrows, BAR, Ferrari, Red Bull and Toyota driver eventually finishing 11th.

Bottas spent much of the rally pursuing Henrik Pietarinen's Skoda Fabia, but faded in the latter stages, the last two of which were claimed by Pietarinen.

"We finished my first ever rally 5th overall with a stage win today," tweeted Bottas after the event. "Tricky & enjoyable stages, so much fun."

Picture Credit: Bottas/Twitter

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

Click to go to the main galleries section

POST A COMMENT

sign in

or Register for a Pitpass ID to have your say

Please note that all posts are reactively moderated and must adhere to the site's posting rules and etiquette.

Post your comment

Sign in or register for a Pitpass ID to leave a comment here!

post comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page

X

close

Copyright © Pitpass 2002 - 2024. All rights reserved.

about us | advertise | contact | privacy & security | rss | terms