Ogier wins Rally Finland after Rovanperä crash, Neuville strikes championship blow

• How to describe this last day of Rally from Finland? Crazy ? Incredible? Unpredictable? In any case, there was no shortage of twists and turns! If the Finnish round was almost destined for Kalle Rovanperä, the big leader on Sunday morning, the double world champion failed in his quest to achieve a first success at home in WRC. Trapped by a stone in the penultimate special stage of the rally, the Finn was knocked down and so were his hopes of victory. As an opportunist, it is a Sébastien Ogier blessed who won for the third time this season, his second success in Finland eleven years after the first.

That's how disaster struck for the rally leaders on SS19 😱 (Crew OK) @KalleRovanpera / @JonneHalttunen @TGR_WRC #WRC | #SectoRallyFinland 🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/4UoX35s0cP

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 4, 2024

• The Frenchman is therefore on a success rate of 50%, having won three of the six rallies he competed in 2024 (and three 2nd places in the other events). With this almost unexpected result, as Kalle Rovanperä dominated the Rally Finland until the penultimate special, the eight-time world champion climbs to 2nd place in the world championship with 141 points, behind Thierry Neuville (168 points)! With four rounds to go before the end of the season, will this new victory convince the Gapençais to finish the 2024 campaign and seek a 9th WRC title?
• Sébastien Ogier may have won a third victory this season, but it was Thierry Neuville who signed the excellent operation of the weekend in Finland. The Belgian, frustrated at not being in the match against the Toyota this weekend, took advantage of the retirements of the two Toyotas to secure an unexpected 2nd place. Above all, with zero points from his two main rivals in the championship, namely Elfyn Evans and Ott Tänak, the pilot Hyundai takes the lead in the championship with 27 points ahead of Sébastien Ogier, 31 over Ott Tänak and 36 over Elfyn Evans. What if it was finally the right one for Thierry Neuville, five-time vice-world champion in the WRC?
• So it's a nightmare weekend for Elfyn Evans. The two-time winner of the event was hoping to score big points in Finland, but his hopes evaporated on Saturday afternoon, when he lost big minutes with a driveshaft problem. The Welshman could, however, make up for it on Sunday by scoring the Super Sunday points... but he made a mistake all alone in SS19, from the first corner! An error which could spell the end of his title chances this season.
• In the midst of all these twists and turns, we almost forget the podium ofAdrien fourmaux ! Third in Finland, the Northerner took his fourth podium of the season after those of Sweden, Kenya and Poland! The result of clean driving throughout the weekend despite a Ford Puma which was not adjusted to its liking on Friday, due to the lack of testing on the fast Nordic trails.
• For his first rally in the premier category, Sami Pajari stood out: apart from a mistake which could have been fatal on Friday morning in SS2, the Finn had an excellent weekend with the highlight being a first victory of special stage in SS9 at just 22 years old. His first appearance in Rally1 with Toyota ended with a sublime 4th place at the finish of his national rally. Enough to restore a little balm to the hearts of Finnish supporters after the abandonment of Kalle Rovanperä…
• In WRC2, Oliver Solberg scored his second victory of the season and leads the championship. The Swede dominated the weekend head and shoulders, only pushed aside by veteran Jari-Matti Latvala. The man with 211 WRC starts took a superb 2nd place with the Toyota Yaris Rally2.

Rally Finland
General classification

Ranking – Power Stage

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