After some epic battles fought under harrowing conditions in the Welsh forests, former P-WRC champion Toshi Arai took second on the podium in Rally GB, while multiple stage winner Patrik Flodin came home sixth.
The final day of Rally GB - and the last leg of the 2009 P-WRC season dawned under brighter skies than the previous two days, though this was short-lived, and by the time the Production cars came to the end of the first stage of the morning, Port Talbot 1, it was raining hard. Conditions then continued to deteriorate as the day wore on, the stages getting muddier and slipperier with every car that went through. Road conditions on the day's second stage, Rheola, caused problems for a number of drivers.
There was no proper Service on this final leg of the rally, just a remote re-group after the first pair of stages. Crews thus had to make sure no major damage or issues occurred to their mounts for the entire 80 kilometres' competitive distance today. Serious downpours and very windy conditions returned for the afternoon run-through of the morning's two stages, making for an unpredictable end to this most exciting of rallies.
A metronomic run in the upper positions throughout the entire three days of Rally GB saw Toshi Arai score his third podium of the season, after coming third in Argentina and Greece. "I'm taking it very carefully on the stages as there are deer on the roads and it's just so fast, mostly in fifth gear. The car has been working better this afternoon than in the morning, so we don't mind the rain. Conditions are difficult so it hasn't been so easy to carry speed. Second is a satisfying result, but we found many issues with my driving, the car - I have to improve for next year."
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Patrik Flodin was on another flier throughout the morning, winning the opening 17.41-km Port Talbot stage, SS13. At the re-group: "The first stage was OK, the next one is my favourite (Rheola) so we pushed like hell there, but there was so much mud, it was very tricky. Some corners have no grip, while on others you have full traction. It's difficult to find your maximum speed." Flodin took another stage win on the second pass of Port Talbot, immediately after the re-group. "It's raining very heavily, conditions are really tricky - but this is Rally GB and we like it! We need to try and make a better season next year without the problems we faced this season. We've really enjoyed this Rally GB, except for Friday! Against the S2000 cars, I think we are able to fight for victories in some rallies, and this is one of them. I really hope to be back next year."
On a massive charge today was Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah, taking 4.6 seconds out of an 18.4-second gap to Patrik Flodin on the first run through of Rheola, reducing the gap to 13.8 seconds at the day's halfway point. "It's very wet and slippery from the heavy rain, but everything is going well. I like driving in these conditions and I have a lot of confidence." Misfortune was to hit the former champion on the penultimate stage however, an off-road excursion putting him into retirement so agonisingly close to the finish.
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