It didn’t take long to drive to the border, nor to pass through it. What did take long was finding a way to fix the clutch cable which gave up within kilometers of entering Finland.
With the help of the rally mechanics, a temporary solution was found. The clutch pedal was connected to the release lever of the clutch using a steel wire. This got us to the hotel, where the Finnish participant had put on a large welcome for us all.
We didn’t have a spare clutch cable and no one else had one which would have worked for the Citroen. Mario thus found a local to take him to a spare parts shop where he bought a combination of things out of which he could make a working cable. With the help of one of the others, he was able to build it into the car. They finished just before 22:00, but it was still so bright that it felt a lot earlier.
It was not only an eventful day for us, but also for some of the others. One couple had a bag with their money and passports stolen. They only realized at the border and retraced their steps to St Petersburg, finding the discarded bag with nothing but the passports still in it. A few of the other participants found out that their Russian visas had already expired and needed to pay a fine.