Injuries hampered performance: Martin

Markko Martin admitted his Rally Finland efforts were compromised by injuries he suffered in a horrifying accident in Argentina.

The Estonian, who last year became the first non-Scandinavian to win in Finland, spent time in hospital after destroying his Ford in a high-speed crash in South America.

He was able to return to action at the weekend but conceded he was not fully fit and blamed that on his inability to threaten winner Marcus Gronholm.

Martin said: “This has been a really hard weekend. My body wasn’t able to keep up with what my head was telling me to do.

“I really didn’t expect it to be so difficult to drive, but we’ve finished second and scored eight points, so that is a good result. But I’m really happy it’s over. If I had been 100% fit, I would have been able to challenge Marcus.

“The championship is still alive and we must now turn our attentions to a good result in Germany on the next round.”

Gronholm won comfortably, 34.7 seconds clear of Martin, while veteran Citroen driver Carlos Sainz, who won last time out in Argentina to take the record for the most world rally wins, was third.

Gronholm was overjoyed with his first win of the season, especially after being stripped of his Cyprus win due to a technical infringement.

“We’ve waited a long time for this,” said Gronholm. “This is certainly a victory that we’ve had to work for, but that makes it all worthwhile.

“I wasn’t completely confident when we started the rally, but my feeling got better and better and we were able to keep the lead without pushing.

“The gearbox problem on the second day really worried me, as it meant that our top speed was limited to 160kph, but we lost less time than I thought, so the final day was a question of driving safely but quickly to the end.

“I’d like to thank everybody in the team for making it possible – this is a very special win.”

Sebastien Loeb stretched his lead in the world championship to 22 points over Petter Solberg by finishing fourth.

Janne Tuohino brought his Ford home in fifth while fellow Finn Jani Paasonen was a superb sixth for Skoda. Francois Duval’s Ford was seventh with Toni Gardemeister adding another point to Skoda’s tally with eighth.