The duo had to change a tyre during the second special stage in the morning. In all the hustle, Hussi forgot to press the OK button. This button must be pressed whenever a team stops during a special stage to let the race organisers know everything is in order and the stage can continue.
The jury imposed a fine of 1,000 euros on the crew, but since the mistake was Hussi’s, the co-driver will pay the fine. A precedent was set earlier in the event when Emil Lindholm‘s co-driver, Reeta Hämäläinen, made the same mistake. Hämäläinen stated that she had paid the fine herself because the error was hers.
“It will probably be on my tab. While we were changing the tyre, it was left unpressed. It’s usually the co-driver’s job, I guess,” Hussi regretted speaking to RallyJournal.com.
The Croatia Rally is known to be particularly challenging for drivers and it proves just as demanding for co-drivers.
“It’s definitely a challenging event. So far in my career, it’s clearly the most challenging rally. It might also be the toughest event of this season for me. I learned a lot of important lessons, and we will learn from these mistakes,” Hussi summarized.
“The roads are really challenging to read and there’s a lot of information in the pacenote book. Then you add the gravel crew data and weather notes on top of that, it’s difficult, but educational.”
Joona and Hussi finished eighth in the Rally2 cars, but as several crews were not competing for points, their position in the WRC2 class was sixth. They ended up six and a half minutes behind the leaders.
“The weekend was very educational in all respects. We encountered many new things. We hadn’t driven a Rally2 car on asphalt before. We gained a lot of experience and had some good stage times. Of course, there were a few minor errors and a tyre puncture, but we’ll learn from those too,” Joona reported.
“We have to be satisfied. Of course, it always stings to lose a position on the last day. That’s a bit annoying. We ran a test race the weekend before this event. Now, looking back, you can really see a clear development curve.”
