In Junior WRC in SS18, Juuso Nordgren set the best time in 11'42″2 and is ahead of Andrea Crugnola by 1″. Ole Christian Veiby is third at 2″2 but ahead of Simone Tempestini. Veiby remains overall leader ahead of the Italian by 17″. Nordgren is 3 ahead of Crugnola and the French Vincent Dubert and Romain Martel.

The next special, second passage through Pihlajakoski, will start at 16:14 p.m.

Thanks to Marius Aasen's loss of time, Loubet (DS3 R5) and Gilbert (DS3 R5) each gained a place in 7th and 8th positions in WRC-2.

By a tenth of a second, Kris Meeke (DS3) set the best time (10'36″5) of the eighteenth special, ahead of the Volkswagen Polo of Jari-Matti Latvala. Ott Tänak is the big winner of this SS by setting the third time, 1″1 behind Meeke, and regaining fourth place in the general classification, passing Mads Ostberg (Ford), Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen) takes fourth place in the special in 10'39″2 and is ahead of Neuville's Hyundai i20 by 5″2.

In the general classification, if the trio Meeke – Latvala – Breen remains in this order, Meeke increasing the gap to 42″3, Tänak now threatens third place from Craig Breen, falling to 14″1 from the Irishman. The gaps are still as close as Neuville is only 2″4 behind Tänak and ahead of his teammate Paddon by only eight tenths. Mads Ostberg remains in ambush with his Ford Fiesta RS, 3″2 behind Paddon.

Andreas Mikkelsen remains eighth, 11″8 behind Ostberg. Esapekka Lappi (Skoda) remains overall leader in WRC-2 (and ninth overall) with 47″ ahead of Suninen and 56″4 over Tidemand. Suninen (Skoda) set the best time of SS18 in 10'53"6 and is ahead of Evans (Ford Fiesta R5) by 1"4 and Lappi (Skoda) by 2"5.

Loubet (DS3 R5) signs the 8th fastest time of the SS, 21″7 behind Suninen and is placed just in front of Gilbert (DS3 R5), clocked at 26″7. Bonato (DS3 R5) achieves the 12th provisional time, 34″1 behind Suninen.

In WRC-2, Suninen (Skoda) set the best time of SS18 in 10'53"6 and ahead of Evans (Ford Fiesta R5) by 1"4 and Lappi (Skoda) by 2"5. The latter remains leader overall with 47″ ahead of Suninen and 56″4 over Tidemand.

Problems for Kevin Abbring with his Hyundai i20. The paddle system for changing gears no longer seems to work and using the mechanical lever causes the Korean WRC to misfire. The Dutchman finished in 11'12″9, 36″4 behind Meeke.

Breen was unable to compete in the SS at full speed this morning due to Camilli's accident. “I tried to get involved…”

Craig Breen (DS3) loses 11″ on his teammate on this SS, but above all concedes 9″9 on Ott Tänak, who comes back to 14″1 overall from the Irishman, still third overall.

Kris Meeke remains on a high pace since the Briton from Abu Dhabi Racing sets the best time with a tenth ahead of Latvala in 10'36″5.

It's Sébastien Ogier's turn to arrive at the finish in 10'39″2. Third provisional time for the Volkswagen driver. “Most of the stage is dry, but the end is still a little wet. I had a good SS after my brake problems this morning. » A downpour actually occurred in the area before the SS.

With a time established in 10'37″6, second provisional performance behind Latvala, Ott Tänak (Ford) took the opportunity to gain three places at once and moved up to fourth position, passing Ostberg, Paddon and Neuville. “I didn't have the right choice of tires as the conditions were drier than expected. But I continue to attack. »

A small tenth separates Neuville from his teammate Paddon over these 23,50 km to the advantage of the Belgian, who takes provisional second place in the ES behind Latvala.

10'44″8 for Mads Ostberg, third provisional time of the ES.

“I attacked well on this SS. I had a good feeling, but in a place where I thought I could go faster, we landed right on the side of a ditch: we had found the limit. » specifies Latvala.

Jari-Matti Latvala is clearly faster than Hayden Paddon and Andreas Mikkelsen, pushing the Hyundai driver to 7″9 and his Volkswagen teammate to 13″9.

Hayden Paddon is 6″ faster than Mikkelsen on this SS18, but does not seem satisfied with his overall performance. “I don’t know where the speed is right now. I can't explain the waste of time. »

Here is the summary of SS11 to 15 of the Finnish event. The other videos can be viewed in the Videos section of our website.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) concluded the special in 10'50″5 at an average speed of over 130 km/h.

The eighteenth stage of Rally Finland began with Andreas Mikkelsen on the SS. 23,50 km are on the program.