Rally Finland 2025, Day Three Report

Well, onto the final day and we had two runs of Ouninpohja to enjoy. That would give the crews 47.96km’s to enjoy over an iconic stage. Ott would open the road throughout the two stages and would hope that they could take some points in not just the power stage but also with the points from the Sunday standings.

Well into SS19 Ouninpohja 1 – 23.98 km they went and Elfyn set the pace from teammates Seb and Kalle. Of course, with Ott opening the road he’d only manage to set the eighth fastest time, but this did mean he’d moved closer to the top ten. With Elfyn setting the pace ahead of Seb he further reduced the gap to third overall to just over one second.

Onto the final stage then, and there was drama for Ott and Adrien who both got punctures in the stage. Ott had a huge spin in top gear which was caused by the tyre delaminating. Ironically the demise of Adrien from the top ten meant that Ott finished in tenth place. The top five was Kalle, Takamoto, Seb, Thierry and Elfyn. Fastest over the two stages, Kalle took victory from Takamoto and Seb.

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Finland

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:21:51.4
2	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+39.2
3	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+45.1
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+48.1
5	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:18.8
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:01.5
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+4:07.4
8	M. Sesks	R. Francis	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:17.2
9	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:24.9
10	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+7:38.4

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It is an amazing feeling to win Rally Finland. It has been a long time coming, but with so much support from the fans every year, I feel super happy to win in front of them. This year everybody did a crazy amount of work to make it happen. Jonne and everybody in the team have been fantastic and we were pushing the whole weekend. It’s also a historical moment for Toyota to fill positions one to five, so everybody has done a great job. It was an intense final day on one of the most demanding stages to get right and we had to push really hard to take the points like we did.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m very happy to be back on the podium and finish in second place in Finland, which is such an important place for me and the team. ‘Kiitos paljon’ to all the Finnish fans who are cheering for me a lot. Huge thanks also to the team who are always supporting me, and especially Aaron who has been doing a great job. I’m really happy for the team and also that Kalle could finally win here after so much bad luck: we promised each other before the rally that we could be on the podium together. I can be happy with my performance this weekend and the car was working very well.”

Sébastien Ogier

“This is an amazing result, especially here in Finland where the team is based. I’m sure there will be a big party tonight! It’s well deserved because the team has been pushing hard the whole year and I’m glad to be a part of such a historic result. I’m also really happy for Kalle and Jonne after last year when they already deserved to win. It wasn’t the smoothest weekend for me and I was struggling a bit to keep up with the pace. But after a lot of changes during the weekend the setup was suiting me better today and it was a fantastic feeling to drive this car on this epic stage.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s a really nice result for the team to have all five cars in the top five. On my side I’m a bit disappointed how the final day turned out. It was an exciting format, and we had a really good run the first time through Ouninpohja. The Power Stage didn’t go quite so brilliantly. I had a couple of places in the stage where I couldn’t get turned in like I wanted and lost too much time. Otherwise, it was a good stage, but with such fine margins, we missed out on quite a lot of extra points. But we’ll continue onto the next one.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s just amazing to be part of this result for Toyota. The team was really on it this weekend, so it’s really well deserved by everybody. It has been a really good weekend for us, taking a few stage wins and otherwise having some solid pace. Today was also nice driving a stage like Ouninpohja, even if we were focused mainly on just securing the result. I have really enjoyed the whole weekend, so thanks to the team and all the fans for their support.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“We were at the front of the field for most of the weekend, but suddenly we found ourselves out of the fight and it was hard to come back from that today. In the end, we took three points from Super Sunday, which was the maximum we could do. It’s hard when we are all giving it everything we have, but things are just not going our way. All we could do is have some fun in the Power Stage and look forward to the next rounds.”

2025 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 09, Rally Finland
30 July – 03 of August 2025
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Ott Tänak

“A difficult weekend, but what’s done is done, and now we focus on the next rounds. We’re going into rougher gravel events where we were very competitive at the start of the season, so I am expecting to be back on the pace again. The team had some small troubles that had big consequences, but that’s rallying – it can be cruel, but it is the nature of this sport. The championship is still open, so the fight is still on.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“In terms of performance, it has been a good rally for us, but a difficult one in terms of the result. We were unlucky with punctures on Saturday afternoon and again on the Power Stage, which stopped us from scoring good points. That aside, I’m happy with how we performed in Finland; there are a lot of positives for us to take into the upcoming rallies, where we should have a chance to score good points for the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a crazy rally – honestly, it’s been one of the most enjoyable so far this season. Coming to Finland in a Rally1 car was always going to be something special, and to experience these conditions and these stages – especially Ouninpohja today – has been really nice. Finishing as the top M-Sport car and seventh overall is a great way to end the experience. I’m really looking forward now to a short break before heading to South America. A big thanks to the team and the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy for everything they do – let’s get ready for the next one.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“It’s been a real pleasure to be part of the team and to be involved with a World Rally Team – getting the kind of experience I never thought I’d have. It’s been interesting; there have been some ups and downs, but the season started well, and I think we can end the programme on a good note. Now we’ll see what the future brings.”

Grégoire Munster

“I made a couple of mistakes on Friday which compromised the rest of our weekend, but we made some good improvements overall. We found some solid gains on the car side that will help us in Chile – and maybe Paraguay too. There are still plenty of positives to take. We had a blast driving through the Power Stage in Ouninpohja; despite a puncture, we really enjoyed it. Now we’ve got a break, and we’ll come back stronger for the rest of the season.”

Romet Jürgenson WRC2

“Rally Finland has definitely been a positive experience. Result-wise, it might not be quite as strong as what we achieved in Sardinia and Estonia, but when you look at the level here, I think losing only 0.35 seconds per kilometre is a decent result. Overall, the season has been really solid – no major mistakes – and we’ve definitely improved our rally craft, which is a big positive. Working with M-Sport has been a privilege, and hopefully we’ll be back again next year.”

Oliver Solberg

“Like you can imagine,” said Oliver, “the change from emotions is quite big from Estonia to here in Finland. Winning in Tartu with the factory TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was like a dream come true for me and Elliott.

“Driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was the best moment in the best car in my life, it was incredible. I love the Yaris Rally2, but I think you can understand that it’s not quite the same. This is a rally I really enjoy, and we won here for the last two years, so I was really hoping for a similar result this time around.

“There really wasn’t anything we could do about the rock on Saturday. It just kicked the car out of the ruts and sent us to the ditch. It’s tough when this kind of thing happens. The sport can give you some incredible high moments, but it can also hurt you a little bit. On Saturday morning, we lost more time with a problem with the wipers – the rain was so bad we couldn’t see much at all.

“What does this mean for our [WRC2] championship? Let’s see. Like always with this series, it’s quite hard seeing where everybody is sitting and where the biggest fight is coming from; some of the drivers still have more possibilities to score points.

“Like always, I want to say a very big thanks to everybody from the team at Printsport for preparing the car so well for us.

“Now, we look forward to the next round in Paraguay. This is going to be a big adventure for us all. A first time in a new country is always really exciting. I’m looking forward to discovering the roads, the people and, of course, the incredible South American passion for motorsport.”

Summary

Well, Finland finally has a new home winner with Kalle and Jonne taking their first ever home win. It was a great win for the pairing and has really brought them into the title fight.

For Takamoto and Aaron a second podium of the year was well deserved. They took a number of stage wins and were right there when the two Hyundai crews had their problems.

Finally, Seb and Vincent had a good drive to third and another podium to add to their partnership.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 9

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	458
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	371
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	129
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	85