Conrad Rautenbach did not qualify as a finisher on last weekend's Rally Norway, as the car was withdrawn from the rally some 300 meters before the official finish. Rautenbach completed all the stages and drove the car to the pre-arrival service park, where Citroen officials recommended the car should be voluntarily stopped. Conrad said "I do not know exactly why I was asked not to finish but the engine was not running properly. Maybe the technicians discovered a serious problem when they checked it". The consequence of the retirement was that the new Citroen Junior team forfeited the one manufacturers' championship point they would have gained if Rautenbach had driven the car over the ramp, but also the rules would have required the engine remained sealed and been used on another rally. Failure to have presented the engine in the car again would have incurred a five minute penalty on the rally concerned, and using the engine on another rally when it was already known to be faulty would have led to inevitable retirement on that event. Conrad was the only registered world championship driver not to finish the event.

Meanwhile the rally fans have good news on this website. 3mmm have received exclusively the Jari Matti Latvala’s interview after each round of the 2009 championship. In this weekend we will publish his thoughts on Ireland and Norway. So stay tuned to autorally.ro !

3mmm