Home hero leads Toyota 1-2-3 as rival team Hyundai endures a disastrous opening day
Kalle Rovanperä held an 8.0sec Secto Rally Finland lead on Friday night after an action-packed opening leg ended with Toyota GAZOO Racing crews locking out the podium.
The two-time world champion Finn, who is yet to win his home round of the FIA World Rally Championship, headed GR Yaris Rally1 team-mate Elfyn Evans after winning four of today’s nine speed tests. Sébastien Ogier rounded out the top three, six-tenths of a second further back.
In stark contrast, rival team Hyundai faced a disastrous day, losing two of its i20 N Rally1 cars to crashes. Title hopeful Ott Tänak was forced out by a roll in SS3, resulting in co-driver Martin Järveoja being taken to hospital for medical checks where he will remain overnight for monitoring. Meanwhile, Esapekka Lappi retired from fourth after hitting a tree which tore the rear suspension from his car. Lappi is expected to restart on Saturday.
Rovanperä overcame excessive oversteer in the early stages to hold a slender lead of 0.2sec over Evans at the day’s midpoint, but he raised the bar on the repeated afternoon loop to widen that gap as the rain-hit tracks became rutted and even more challenging.
The omens look good for the 23-year-old as, for the past two years, Friday night’s leader has gone on to win.
“It has been a tricky day, especially with the weather,” Rovanperä said. “Really changeable and difficult conditions, so I am quite happy to have had a clean day.
“Tomorrow will be difficult for sure – I think there has been a lot of rain on those stages also but we will see how it is in the morning. All the guys are pushing hard and the gaps are really small, so it’s going to be a big fight.”
Championship leader Thierry Neuville was Hyundai’s last man standing. Climbing the standings after the retirements of his team-mates plus Takamoto Katsuta’s crash on SS5, he held fourth overnight but was hindered by his car’s setup and an overshoot in the morning. The Belgian trailed Ogier by 16.9sec at close of play and, as it stands, is set to see his points buffer over title rival Evans shrink
The lack of a pre-event test meant Adrien Fourmaux had to adjust the setup of his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 on road sections between stages. Holding fifth with a 42.5sec buffer over Sami Pajari, the Frenchman felt he had made good progress with the car by the end of the leg.
Pajari’s day was one of two halves. Two spins saw the GR Yaris Rally1 debutant end the first stage with a damaged rear wing, forcing him to complete the morning’s remaining tests with significantly reduced aero.
However, reinforcing the fact that the WRC’s future looks bright, he and co-driver Enni Mälkönen went on to win the Ruuhimäki stage in the afternoon – their first fastest time at the sport’s top level, coming just a fortnight after fellow Rally1 rookie Mārtiņš Sesks achieved a similar feat in Latvia.
Grégoire Munster placed seventh in his Puma ahead of WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg, with Rally2 runners Jari-Matti Latvala and Robert Virves completing the leaderboard.
Saturday is the rally’s longest day and features 144.22 kilometres against the clock, including the return of the legendary Ouninpohja stage.
Leading positions after Friday
1. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen FIN Toyota GR Yaris 56m 47.1s
2. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota GR Yaris +8.0s
3. S Ogier / V Landais FRA Toyota GR Yaris +8.6s
4. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N +26.2S
5. A Fourmaux / A Coria FRA Ford Puma +48.6s
6. S Pajari / E Mälkönen FIN Toyota GR Yaris +1m 28.9s
