Valtteri Bottas enjoyed a productive rally debut, claiming a stage win and finishing P5 overall in the Arctic Lapland Rally.

The Mercedes driver, partnered by Marcus Gronholm’s long-time navigator Timo Rautiainen, drove a Ford Fiesta WRC as he looked to begin 2019 with a new challenge on the snowy roads of Lapland.

Bottas’ WRC-spec Fiesta enjoyed a slight power advantage over the R5 machinery of his direct rivals, most of which were driving cars from the World Championship’s WRC2 category.

Similarly to his Formula 1 characteristics, Bottas chose a conservative approach at the outset but by Friday afternoon he was up to P5, locked in a fierce battle with P4 Skoda Fabia driver Henrik Pietarinen.

Continue Reading on planetf1.com