Kalle Rovanperä is heading in the right direction to interrupt his Secto Rally Finland victory duck after a shocking run of 5 stage wins throughout Saturday’s second leg left him comfortably away from the sector.
The 2-time winner of the FIA World Rally Championship accomplished the penultimate leg of the four-day occasion with a 44.2s benefit over his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Factors chief Thierry Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, ended up 39.2s additional again in third.
Finland’s quick and livid Friday was a super-speed Saturday with Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Ogier heading up a Toyota 1-2-3 this morning. Nevertheless it all went fallacious for Evans when his automotive’s entrance proper driveshaft broke on the blisteringly quick Päijälä take a look at, forcing him to barter round 40 kilometres price of particular phases in highway mode – shedding virtually six minutes – earlier than repairs might be made in service.
Rovanperä’s benefit over the now second-placed Ogier had ballooned to greater than 20s by the day’s midpoint and he continued his flawless drive regardless of changeable climate this afternoon, successful all however one stage together with each passes of the legendary Ouninpohja.
“Within the morning there was a superb battle and we stored pushing as we speak,” mentioned Rovanperä, who crashed whereas main his residence fixture final 12 months. “We did some fairly robust occasions with out taking any big dangers, so that’s fairly optimistic.”
Ogier was not within the temper for taking pointless dangers and admitted that having not competed right here since 2021, he lacked the dedication wanted to problem Rovanperä.
“The dedication must be at 100 per cent,” the eight-time champion remarked, “and two years lacking right here makes it more difficult. In Finland, there usually are not so many guys who can observe the 100 per cent of Kalle Rovanperä.”
After struggling for tempo on Friday, as we speak introduced positivity for Neuville and his title aspirations. Whereas Evans, presently third within the driver’s standings, has to this point didn’t register a rating, Neuville’s in a single day standing provisionally earns him 13 championship factors. Ott Tänak, who was second coming into this spherical, didn’t restart following his crash on Friday morning.
Adrien Fourmaux set the same tempo to Neuville on the phases however trailed the Belgian by 25.9sec after struggling to regain time misplaced to him yesterday. His M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid team-mate Grégoire Munster’s day was over in a blink after the Luxembourger rolled 4 kilometres into the opening stage.
Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Mälkönen are heading in the right direction to file a top-five end result on their GR Yaris Rally1 debut, with 29.5s separating the younger Finnish pair from Fourmaux.
Oliver Solberg leads the FIA WRC2 class as effectively holding sixth total forward of class rival Jari-Matti Latvala. Jesse Kallio leads FIA WRC3 with FIA Rally Star Taylor Gill on prime in FIA Junior WRC.
Following his Saturday restart, Esapekka Lappi was quickest by means of SS15 however was compelled to vary a broken tyre on each runus of Ouninpohja.
Twin visits to Sahloinen-Moksi and Laajavuori type the Tremendous Sunday route with the repeat of Laajavuori forming the event-deciding Wolf Energy Stage from 13:15. The 14.27km Sahloinen-Moksi stage from 08:55 native time.
