Ostberg beats Gronholm in rally exhibition

Citroen World Rally Championship driver Mads Ostberg triumphed in an exhibition event in Helsinki that pitched modern WRC stars against a selection of Finnish rally legends.

The Helsinki Battle, organized by long-time Rally Finland sponsor Neste Oil to honor its 20-year anniversary, took place on a street circuit in the Finnish capital in front of 20,000 spectators. Ostberg beat double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm, who was at the wheel of a Hyundai, in the final.

"It was really enjoyable today," said the DS3 WRC driver after taking victory. "I like the track; you could really play with the car and have fun. "It was bigger to beat Gronholm [than the other current drivers]. To be able to get to the final to drive against a legend was incredible."

Ostberg set the pace among the contingent of WRC regulars, beating Volkswagen's defending champion and current points leader Sebastien Ogier by 0.3sec. Hyundai's Thierry Neuville was a further two tenths back, joint third fastest with M-Sport Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen.

Gronholm was comfortably the quickest of the four Finnish 'legends', besting four-time champion Tommi Makinen (Fiesta), Juha Kankkunen (DS3) and Markku Alen (Polo) were some way off the pace.

That meant that Ostberg and Gronholm faced off in the final, the Norwegian setting an initial benchmark of 1m29.0s before setting the quickest time of the entire day, a 1m27.4s, on his second attempt to beat Gronholm by 1.8sec.