Tänak leads a very tight field on Rally Finland

On the very fast and straight Finnish roads, it was difficult to imagine that a driver could widen the gap on the first morning. After the five stages contested on Friday morning, no one managed to escape from the peloton. For the moment, it is Ott Tänak which slightly dominates the Rally from Finland, including two scratches on SS2 and SS4. The Estonian is ahead of Esapekka Lappi (2nd, +6″2) who is one of the only ones to hold his own in Tänak. The Finn was notably the fastest during SS3.

Behind, it's still very tight in the top 6. Elfyn Evans (3rd, +11″1) is still in contact with the leading duo, as is Craig Breen (4th, +13″5). The championship leader, Kalle Rovanperä (5th, +15″3), is still in the running despite his opening position, as is Takamoto Katsuta (6th, +17″3). The Japanese set the best time during the Harju super-special, at home, he who is based in Jyväskylä.

Solberg eliminated at the start of Rally Finland

At Hyundai, hormis Ott Tänak, la matinée a été un peu plus compliquée. Thierry Neuville (7th, +25″7) was out of the running in SS3, losing almost 15 seconds. The Belgian notably complained about a lack of grip in high-speed sections and a lack of confidence in his i20 N.

The third Hyundai entered, that of Oliver Solberg, was quickly knocked out. The Swede lost control of his car at the first corner of the day, in SS2, by going too wide. The Hyundai then rolled over. Unable to restart, the young driver had to definitively abandon the Rally of Finland and will not restart on Saturday. As the car's roll bar was affected, the crew was not allowed to leave for safety reasons.

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Concerns also for Adrien fourmaux en Finlande. Lors de l’ES3, le Français a percuté un rocher caché à l’intérieur d’un virage rapide et a cassé sa direction. Après avoir perdu plus d’une dizaine de minutes, le pilote M-Sport est reparti pour rallier l’assistance, mais a dû terminer l’ES5 et l’ES6 sans direction assistée.

⚠️ Suspected steering damage for @AdrienFourmaux on SS3#WRCLive #RallyFinland #WRC

- World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 5

Already relegated to more than 18 minutes, Fourmaux will have to count on a little luck to re-enter the top 10. The second Frenchman entered, Pierre-Louis Loubet (8th, +28″9), is making a cautious rally for the moment, all like Jari Huttunen (9th, +29″1) for his first appearance in WRC Rally1.

The general classification after SS6 (before WRC2):