WRC Rally Finland
Live Text
Sort by
Quote
Breen confirms he's in the podium fight.
"It's not a million miles away," he says. "I can't really do much more than we're doing without taking risks."
"It's not a million miles away," he says. "I can't really do much more than we're doing without taking risks."
Stopwatch
Breen is also quicker than Hanninen but only by 0.2s. Breen ends the morning loop in sixth, 10s behind Evans. Unless there's problems for the frontrunners.
Hanninen confirms there's no problems at all in the stage. But there may be a very big problem in that he could be under threat for third.
Stopwatch
That means Elfyn Evans ends this morning loop only 6.4s behind Hanninen. It's finely poised for the afternoon.
Stopwatch
Hanninen is next up, and he's fighting Teemu Suninen for third. The latter is 2.7s behind.
Hanninen completes and drops 1.9s to Tanak, fourth quickest. Not a particularly convincing time, that.
Hanninen completes and drops 1.9s to Tanak, fourth quickest. Not a particularly convincing time, that.
Information
Time for a quick breather and a recap. We have shivers at those times from Latvala and Lappi, the next closest driver was nine seconds further back!
- Jari-Matti Latvala extends his rally lead, with a stunning time over Ouninpohja. Esapekka Lappi is just 2.5s slower, and trails in second by 7.3s
- Teemu Suninen mucks-up a chicane and loses third to Juho Hanninen, making it a Toyota 1-2-3 on its 'home' rally. Suninen is 2.7s behind
- Elfyn Evans is fifth and 4.6s behind Suninen, with Craig Breen also technically in the battle for third with Suninen's issue. Breen's Citroen is 9.3s behind Evans.
- Mads Ostberg has a spin and brakes his suspension, dropping out of seventh, gifting a spot to Neuville.
- Jari-Matti Latvala extends his rally lead, with a stunning time over Ouninpohja. Esapekka Lappi is just 2.5s slower, and trails in second by 7.3s
- Teemu Suninen mucks-up a chicane and loses third to Juho Hanninen, making it a Toyota 1-2-3 on its 'home' rally. Suninen is 2.7s behind
- Elfyn Evans is fifth and 4.6s behind Suninen, with Craig Breen also technically in the battle for third with Suninen's issue. Breen's Citroen is 9.3s behind Evans.
- Mads Ostberg has a spin and brakes his suspension, dropping out of seventh, gifting a spot to Neuville.
Quote
Ostberg explains his off.
"I went wide into a ditch and there was a big rock," he says. "We destroyed the rear suspension and it's not a good feeling to do the stage with no brakes."
"I went wide into a ditch and there was a big rock," he says. "We destroyed the rear suspension and it's not a good feeling to do the stage with no brakes."
Stopwatch
Latvala's first split drops having been absent on the timing screens. He's 1.7s slower than Lappi in second. Lappi is 4.8s behind in the order.
Stopwatch
Lappi is the first person to beat Tanak's split one time, so he's looking good.
He'll be looking to retake time from Latvala who took the lead on the last stage.
He'll be looking to retake time from Latvala who took the lead on the last stage.
Stopwatch
Hanninen completes and breaks Evans heart by going quickest by one second.
That means he's fourth by 7.3s ahead of Evans. That battle isn't over by any means.
That means he's fourth by 7.3s ahead of Evans. That battle isn't over by any means.
Quote
Meeke drops 13.3s to Tanak, and that means Tanak is only 15.8s behind him now having started the stage with 29.1s in hand.
"I know the stage very well. It's like a rear-wheel-drive car," he says. It's not been a good return to the WRC for Kris Meeke.
"I know the stage very well. It's like a rear-wheel-drive car," he says. It's not been a good return to the WRC for Kris Meeke.
Crash
Ostberg has stopped and restarted. He's fallen behind Hanninen in the order on the stage. He's got going again.
Quote
Tanak has completed the stage, 1m36.1s quicker than Dani Sordo. Sordo has been off the pace this weekend.
"A fantastic stage," says Meeke. "Maybe not 100 per cent confident today but trying to enjoy it."
"A fantastic stage," says Meeke. "Maybe not 100 per cent confident today but trying to enjoy it."
Autosport
A bit of news this morning. Sebastien Ogier won’t get underway today, and his participation in tomorrow’s action in an attempt to score powerstage points is also in doubt.
Sordo, Tanak, Meeke and Neuville are all into the daunting stage now. It's got to be the most famous stage in the WRC.
Green flag
And the stage is live with Khalid Al Qassimi.
Good morning and welcome back to Autosport’s live coverage of Rally Finland. Are you ready for Ouninpohja?
Latvala is only fifth quickest, so with just Lappi to come it looks like this might actually be a stage win for Neuville.
Suninen comes in fifth fastest, so he'll hold third overnight with a 14s margin back to Breen.
Next up, 20th placed Khalid Al Qassimi. Then the top three in WRC2, in reverse order - Hiroki Arai, Quentin Gilbert then Jari Huttunen.
Then we'll be back into the frontrunners, startng with Meeke and going through the rally's top nine in reverse.
Then we'll be back into the frontrunners, startng with Meeke and going through the rally's top nine in reverse.
Well, the start order for this stage looks fairly bonkers. Up first: 11th-placed Sordo. He's been miles off the pace of every single other 2017 WRC driver today.
Other ultra-close battles: Breen just 2.4s ahead of Hanninen in fourth, Ostberg just 0.6s ahead of Evans in sixth.
It's still not a stage you really want to tackle with bent steering (Meeke) or a tenuous homespun rear suspension fix (Hanninen), but it's probably short enough that Lappi's now 4.6s lead over Latvala will be at risk.
Tanak and Sordo will be next through, and at the split Tanak's already claimed 3s of the 5s he needs to pass Sordo for 10th.
Latvala adds that he made a breakthrough with understanding how to drive this car on this rally on this stage, realising something he hasn't been doing quite right so far today. Intriguing...
Quote
Latvala is next in and is 3.5s faster than Neuville. Which is also how much he trails Lappi by in the lead fight right now.
"Esapekka has been doing an absolutely fantastic drive," says Latvala. "I take my hat off to the performance he is doing."
But he describes tomorrow's stages as "the real reality test" for both of them.
"Esapekka has been doing an absolutely fantastic drive," says Latvala. "I take my hat off to the performance he is doing."
But he describes tomorrow's stages as "the real reality test" for both of them.
Stopwatch
Lappi now - and he's fastest AGAIN! Latvala admitted he hadn't driven too well on this stage and he loses 3.2s to his young team-mate, who now leads by 3.5s.
"I was on the limit. Fucking hell it was close to in the trees on one corner!" says Lappi.
"I was on the limit. Fucking hell it was close to in the trees on one corner!" says Lappi.
Quote
"I gave everything that I could," says Lappi. "I knew that this is one tricky stage where you can push so I tried everything.
"1.6s quicker? I feel like it must have been more, I was pushing so much. It really shows the quality of the competition. It is amazing."
"1.6s quicker? I feel like it must have been more, I was pushing so much. It really shows the quality of the competition. It is amazing."
Meanwhile, Tanak has whipped another 6s out of the gap to Sordo by split one. Fair chance of Tanak being back in the top 10 before today is done.
By split two, Neuville is 9.1s off Latvala so that suggests things still aren't great for Hyundai.
Curious lead battle here when the two team-mates fighting for victory are seven cars apart on the road.
Curious lead battle here when the two team-mates fighting for victory are seven cars apart on the road.
Third fastest for Suninen - that cements his third place overall, now 4.4s ahead of Breen and 4.8s ahead of Ostberg.
Quote
Only seventh fastest for Ostberg, and that drops him back behind Breen into what is fourth for now but might be fifth depending on what Suninen does.
"This stage was not so good," says Ostberg. "I couldn't find a good rhythm and the car was oversteering a lot."
"This stage was not so good," says Ostberg. "I couldn't find a good rhythm and the car was oversteering a lot."
Quote
"Not much, but it's something!" says Lappi of that time gain. "For a first pass it was a pretty good run. Lots of places to improve. But in my opinion you can't do a perfect run on the first pass."
Overall though, this rally is "the best I've ever done".
Yeah, we'd agree with that. This bloke's only been in the World Rally Car class three months and he's hounding a team-mate who's won Rally Finland three times for the outright lead.
Overall though, this rally is "the best I've ever done".
Yeah, we'd agree with that. This bloke's only been in the World Rally Car class three months and he's hounding a team-mate who's won Rally Finland three times for the outright lead.
Tanak's 'catch Sordo' mission continues. Only third fastest on the stage so far, and admitting he's not taking any risks, Tanak still takes 7.8s out of Sordo even on this short one and gets the gap to 10th place down to 33.3s.
Quote
Latvala is in next, 2s faster than Neuville but he'll have to wait for Lappi to turn up to see what his time really means.
"It is slippier now but not too dramatic at the moment," Latvala says of conditions. "You just have to be very focused. I tried to push on this stage."
Latvala suspects the fact the rain has stopped and conditions are drying means Lappi, much further back in the running order, might have an advantage here.
"It is slippier now but not too dramatic at the moment," Latvala says of conditions. "You just have to be very focused. I tried to push on this stage."
Latvala suspects the fact the rain has stopped and conditions are drying means Lappi, much further back in the running order, might have an advantage here.
Green flag
The first cars are onto the stage, Latvala a comfortable 2.3s up on Neuville on the splits - as has been the case all day really.
Stopwatch
Elfyn Evans completes and he's only 1.8s off Latvala's benchmark. He says it's really "inconsistent in grip". That can't encourage confidence when jumping over crests at 100mph...
David Evans
For a bit of wordage about this test, here's Hayden Paddon's co-driver Seb Marshall, delivering his descriptions to DAVID EVANS:
SS8/11 Aanekoski-Valtra 7.39km (4.59 miles)
"This is one of the really fast, wide stages. With just one junction – and only one chicane in here – it’s going to be a case of blink and you’ll miss it. It’ll only take us around three and a half minutes to get through here."
SS8/11 Aanekoski-Valtra 7.39km (4.59 miles)
"This is one of the really fast, wide stages. With just one junction – and only one chicane in here – it’s going to be a case of blink and you’ll miss it. It’ll only take us around three and a half minutes to get through here."
Stopwatch
That's Sordo in and he's 7.8s down on the best time from Latvala.
There's only 20.2s between Latvala in the lead and Meeke in seventh, the order is close and we'll almost certainly see a few positions swapping in the top 10.
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
