Lappi signs his first victory in Finland

Esapekka Lappi wins her first victory in WRC au Rally of Finland on home soil for his 4th start at the highest level of the category. The local driver won with a 36s lead over Elfyn Evans (Ford) who destroyed the hopes of a double for Toyota by ahead of Juho Hänninen by 3 tenths, the Nordic signing his first WRC podium. The Japanese manufacturer takes its second victory of the season after the success of Jari-Matti Latvala in Sweden.

Sixth in Poland where he made his debut in the highest category of rallying, Teemu Suninen (Ford) took 4th place after seeing his hopes of a podium dashed by damaging his Fiesta WRC in an off-road event. Craig Breen (Citroën) completes the top 5 and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). Ott Tänak (Ford) is 7th ahead of Kris Meeke (Citroën) and Dani Sordo who maintains 9th place for less than ten seconds ahead of Mads Ostberg.

Ott Tänak won the Power Stage by completing the 10,12km of Oittila in 4’48”6, 1”5 ahead of Elfyn Evans. Thierry Neuville followed at 2s ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and Juho Hänninen. The Hyundai driver finds himself at the top of the Championship tied on points with Sébastien Ogier but has the advantage with an additional victory.

For his first entry in R5, Jari Huttunen (Skoda) won in WRC 2 with more than 2 minutes ahead of Quentin Gilbert (Skoda). Tom Cave (Hyundai) completes the category podium. The Finn, 11th in the general classification, is ahead of Eric Camilli's Fiesta R5 by a dozen seconds.

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Finland carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2125 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.