Tony's Rally Blog 2: Toivonen not forgotten

Right, so since I last wrote I've been off on a little rally recce of my own. Ah, good man, you're thinking – checking out that fast right over crest that was Petter Solberg's downfall on Ouninpohja west in 2006, or the stone that served to seriously reconfigure Jari-Matti Latvala's front suspension on Palsankylä in 2007? Wrong. This was a visit to an altogether more exotic venue, but one where Jyväskylä and Finnish rally stars are just as fondly remembered: Sardinia's Costa Smeralda.

Many of the staff and media crowd on Rally Finland will undoubtedly know Marco Giordo, the very likeable banker and freelance motorsport journalist who lives on Sardinia's north-eastern tip. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure to accompany Marco as we followed the coast road north from Olbia to Porto Cervo and onward to Palau. At one point Marco paused, and there was the spot, the low stone wall on a sharp left, where Henri Toivonen suffered severe injury driving a Lancia 037 on the 1985 Costa Smeralda. A simple, beautifully tended plaque records the event.

Jyväskylä-born Toivonen is still rightly revered, here and in Italy, as one of the best motorsport all-rounders there has ever been. Forced to wait until the age of 19 to enter his first WRC event, the Thousand Lakes as it was then, he made his mark almost immediately, taking a surprise win at age 24 in the 1980 Lombard RAC, and capping that with another RAC victory and top spot in the Monte Carlo before the fateful accident in Corsica in 1986.

Toivonen's heroics were to go unchallenged for over 20 years before another Finn – Jari-Matti Latvala – set about re-writing the record books. First WRC event, Rally GB, at 17 and first victory, on Rally Sweden 2008, at the ripe old age of 22. Impressive stuff. So what of his chances on Rally Finland 2008? Let's assume a level playing field and no team orders or friendly words of advice from Malcolm Wilson until well into Saturday afternoon. If Jari-Matti holds a clear lead, and Loeb is at a reasonable distance from Mikko Hirvonen, then it's game on.

And finally what of home-grown Italian talent? No big excitement there, I'm afraid. Gigi Galli is naturally expected to give another good account of himself in the Stobart Ford 07, but a top five finish is probably the very best he can manage. But when Gigi's around it's definitely show time. After all, he does hold the record for the highest speed off the famous Ouninpohja jump - a cool 171 km/h. Say what you like, but the boy certainly has palle.

17.7.2008 Tony Melville