Autosportfoto

Suninen’s podium hopes

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver Teemu Suninen hopes his career-best result at Vodafone Rally de Portugal will be a "big step" in his career.

The Finn claimed third place - just behind team-mate Elfyn Evans - after a strong final day where he out-fought Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo who were both chasing him down.

The pair were occasionally faster than the 24-year-old, but Suninen managed his advantage to avoid any major incidents and eventually finished with 13.6sec in hand over Sordo.

"It's really great to get my first podium," Suninen said. "The first one is always special and I think it will be a big step for my career.

"We struggled a bit to find the limit on Friday morning as I had to get used to driving this car on these stages but after that, I was able to push and set some really good times."

Suninen's success came at a good time for M-Sport as his points haul - coupled with that of Evans - allowed the British team to close the gap to Hyundai in the manufacturers' standings to 13 points. Sébastien Ogier failed to score after retiring on Friday when his Fiesta suffered a broken steering arm.

Suninen's career-best result - combined with two points for a fourth-place finish on the Live TV Power Stage - have raised hopes that he will be given further opportunities to shine in the M-Sport driver line-up this season.

He told WRC.com: "Hopefully I will get more rallies this year but for now we don't have the full season and we need these good results to get that next year. Hopefully, this podium will help achieve that."

Zdroj: wrc.com