Kris Meeke shines in Finland

Long owned by Finns and Scandinavian pilots before the arrival of Latin pilots since 1990 and the success of Carlos Sainz, Rally of Finland has welcomed a new nationality to its list since this Sunday.

Kris Meeke dominated the event throughout the stages contested since last Thursday, and pocketed his second success of the season after the Rally of Portugal last May. The Briton, the first islander to win in Finland, beat Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen) by more than 29″ at the finish.

Abu Dhabi Racing records an unexpected overall result since Craig Breen, aligned with the second of the three DS3 WRC entered, finished 3rd en ayant résisté aux deux Hyundai i20 WRC de Thierry Neuville, who pockets the three Power Stage points, and Hayden Paddon.

Mads Ostberg hoists the first Ford Fiesta RS into sixth position after a complicated test for the cars at the oval, following the exits of Lorenzo Bertelli, Eric Camilli and Ott Tänak this morning. Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) finished seventh ahead WRC-2 winner Esapekka Lappi (Skoda), impressive mastery in the category to pocket his first success of the season.

Kevin Abbring (Hyundai) and Teemu Suninen (Skoda) complete the top 10. Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen, who made a mistake in SS10 on Friday, finished out of the points more than 19′ behind Meeke. In WRC-2 behind Lappi and Suninen, Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta R5) inherits the last step of the podium after the exit of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) in the Power Stage. The Swede was fighting for second place, before making a mistake and violently going off the road. The crew of the official Skoda Fabia R5 was, however, unhurt.

Another twist in WRC-2 in the Power Stage with the stop of Karl Kruuda (Ford Fiesta R5), then 5th in the standings. The Estonian's problems benefit Henning Solberg (Ford Fiesta R5) and Quentin Gilbert (DS3 R5) who enter the top 5.

In Junior WRC, Ole Christian Veiby resisted Simone Tempestini and won the category.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Rally Finland, produced by our special correspondent in Jyväskylä, in issue 2074 of AUTOweekly, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.

Ranking Rally Finland