WRC Finland, Red Bull Ring DTM and F3

WRC - Finland: Ogier is through with a time of 15m42.2s. We await Latvala.

WRC - Finland: You thought 1.8s up was impressive? Think again! Latvala is now 3s, that's right, 3s up on Ogier's time after the fourth split.

If he can keep this up he will be just 0.3s behind Ogier overall.

WRC - Finland: Latvala is really on it. He is now 1.8s up through the third split!

WRC - Finland: The main man to watch though is Meeke and he is really belting along now. He is slower than Latvala but is up on Ogier through the first split.

WRC - Finland: Ogier's main rival Latvala is 0.7s up in the second split. He is edging closer. Still a long way to go in this stage though.

WRC - Finland: Ogier however makes good progress through the second split and is now 0.4s up on Ostberg.

WRC - Finland: The rally leader is through the first Ouninpohja split in 2m14.9s. It's good but it's not quite Ostberg.

The Citroen man is 0.7s up in the first split.

WRC - Finland: The big one is up next. David Evans knows a thing or two about the monster stage:

Having driven this one a few times down the years, AUTOSPORT feels ready to offer an insight into the legend that is Ouninpohja. The start for this stage has moved back a little bit, adding almost an extra mile from two years ago. Last year, the stage only ran from the Kakaristo junction to the finish (about half of this season’s length). The first section is fast, the second section is faster with rollercoaster-style jumps and then the final section is fast, but narrow.

The key thing to look out for in the first section is the big jump by the yellow house (where Markko Martin flew 52 metres in his Ford Focus RS WRC in 2003) or the rock Toni Gardemeister and Dani Sordo have both fallen foul of down the years. The middle section is all top-gear action – it would be surprising to see the cars going anywhere near the bottom half of the gearbox. A notable section is the approach to Kakaristo, which comes through a stunningly fast and long left – where Craig Breen rolled in 2012. It’s a mind-blowing stretch of road. One for the very, very brave.

F3 - Red Bull Ring: Here's the report from qualifying for the weekend's opening Formula 3 race, being held tomorrow morning. It will start with Rosenqvist, Dennis and Stroll in an all-Prema top three.

Rosenqvist takes pole for race one

WRC - Finland: There's no doubt that Meeke was a bit excited through that last stage, closing the gap to leader Ogier to just 7.2s, David Evans explains why the Citroen man may be feeling 'racey':

The Neste garage in Jamsa was selling the Ralli Legendat game – a fascinating board-based race fuelled by dice and featuring Flying Finns aplenty. So… do you go for that or the Fifty Shades of Grey game next to it. One’s a game about racing, the other is clearly a racey game.

Rally game

WRC - Finland: Perhaps Sordo damaged the car going over one of the many Paijala stage jumps?

David Evans probably wouldn't have any problem with that particular stage after picking up some tips from Ari Vatanen:

The remote tyre zone in Himos, near Jamsa was the place to be for finding a grounded Flying Finn. I caught up with Ari Vatanen, who talked me through the perfect line over the jump he'd just been watching in the Paijala stage. Vatanen then added: "I am happy to be here. You know, 30 years ago today I was having my accident in Argentina. This very day... like I say, it's good to be here now."

Anybody wanting the inside line on what happened on that dark day in South America, should buy a copy of Autosport's sister publication Motorsport News, where AV's co-driver Terry Harryman shares the story from inside the car in fabulous detail.

Alen was focused on just looking cool in his Nikes and Aviators. Markku did, however, get super-excited about the 2017 regulations. Read his thoughts in Autosport and MN next week.

WRC - Finland: Sordo has some serious sounding issues at the end of the stage. The Spaniard's Hyundai sounds awful as it comes into ear shot.

He is still in fifth though just 3.2s ahead of Neuville.

WRC - Finland: Tanak comes through the stage and is equally dejected. Perhaps the M-Sport team should take David Evans earlier advice and drink down some of that EcoBoost.

WRC - Finland: Evans has lost another huge chunk of time due to his suspension problem.

He is now 6m10.7s off the overall lead.

F3 - Red Bull Ring: Prema Powerteam's strong start to the weekend continued, with Rosenqvist leading a 1-2-3 in qualifying for Saturday morning's first race.

He took pole by just 0.007 seconds over team-mate Dennis, with Stroll third and championship leader Giovinazzi.

The full report will be online in a moment, with qualifying for Races 2 and 3 taking place later this afternoon, following DTM practice.

WRC - Finland: Meeke seems as surprised as we are at his progress.

"The car has a mind of its own. It's just gliding across the road.

"The car is currently at 99 per cent and I am trying to make up that extra one per cent."

Early rumours are that Meeke has swapped his Citroen for Herbie.

WRC - Finland: Understandably Latvala is a happy man as he is reeling in Ogier.

"I had to really focus and concentrate but it was a really, really good stage.

"There's a little bit of rain out there but it didn't affect the grip. It's actually much better out there than it was this morning."

Game on.

WRC - Finland: Ostberg was up through every split but has lost out by 0.8s by the stage end to Ogier.

WRC - Finland: Meeke where has that come from! 2.4s faster than Ogier in the first split.

Meanwhile Latvala is through the fourth split and is 1.9s up on Ogier.

WRC - Finland: Ogier has completed the stage in 10m41.2s. Behind him all but Neuville are going faster through the splits.

WRC - Finland: Latvala is a man on a mission right now. He goes through the first split 1.3s faster than Ogier.

This could be significant in the fight for the lead. Is Ogier cracking under the pressure?

WRC - Finland: Not as impressive as Ostberg though. He is 0.5s up on Ogier in the first split.

WRC - Finland: Ogier is through the first split in 2m31.7s which is almost 3s faster than his run through there this morning. Impressive stuff.

WRC - Finland: Big old stage coming up here then. 14.6 miles, lots of opportunities to make up lost time, but also a lot of places to lose time.

WRC - Finland: In less than 10 minutes time we return to Paijala which David Evans, and myself, can't pronounce without feeling a hankering for seafood:

I’m not sure how to pronounce this one without making it sound like a Spanish seafood dish… This one’s faster than the first one this morning.

There are more blind crests in here and it’s generally building towards the Ouninpohja stage which comes next. The last section of this one is downhill and quite narrow in parts – it could get quite rutted down there.

WRC - Finland: Always on hand to put a positive spin on things our man David Evans is out there giving Evans and Tanak a bit of an EcoBoost:

After the day Elfyn Evans and Ott Tanak are having, this is just what the M-Sport pair need… Inside? Re-branded Red Bull. But, the boys are going to need more than wings if they’re going to win this one.

F3 - Red Bull Ring: Qualifying for Saturday's first race is underway in splendid conditions. Rosenqvist led the way in practice this morning, ahead of Leclerc, while championship leader Giovinazzi was 10th.

Felix Rosenqvust tops free practice

WRC - Finland: Lefebvre takes a 2s chunk out of Tidemand in the WRC2 overall standings after an impressive run through SS6.

WRC - Finland: Real shame for Paddon who was in fifth overall and was targeting a podium. The incident has promoted Sordo up to fifth, almost a minute behind Ostberg in fourth.

WRC - Finland: As expected suspension problems for Evans continue to hamper his running.

He comes through the stage 1m30s behind leader Latvala.

WRC - Finland: Meeke comes through slower than team-mate Ostberg. He is still 11.8s ahead of Ostberg in the overall standings and his early issues seem to be improving.

"The car is not as bad as I thought but it's definitely not proper at the moment. Hopefully it continues like this."