Tänak maintains the advantage over Ostberg in Finland

The fight for the lead of the race remained in the second passage of the first stage of the Rally of Finland between Ott Tänak (Toyota) and Mads Ostberg (Citroën). The Estonian nevertheless showed himself to be faster than the Norwegian, notably signing three more scratches on the six courses contested this afternoon. The Nordic returns to the service with a lead of 5”8 over the Scandinavian.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) consolidated his 3rd place by extending his lead over Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) at plus 13 seconds. Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) still completes the Top 5 despite brake problems in the super special, but it is now his other teammate Sébastien Ogier who is launched in pursuit. Elfyn Evans had to slow down in the penultimate special of the day in order to offer a better position on the road to the title contender for the second stage. The Welshman finds himself under direct threat from Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) who is a handful of tenths behind his Ford Fiesta WRC.

Craig Breen (Citroën) remains in 9th place, but the Irishman lost ground due to a fuel pressure problem on the last course of the day just like his teammate Khalid Al Qassimi. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) remains stuck in 10th place, but the Championship leader is back to within 14 seconds of the Irishman.

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) continues to dominate WRC 2. The 17-year-old Finn has more than half a minute ahead of Eerik Pietarinen (Skoda). The provisional top three in the category is monopolized by the locals with Jari Huttunen (Hyundai) who is almost a minute behind the leader with a handful of seconds ahead of Ole Christian Veiby (Skoda).

The second stage of the Rally Finland will start from 7:13 a.m. and will be followed live with our live text.