The first day of action on the amazing roads in the Finnish forests and the crews had 130 kilometres over nine stages. There has been a single stage run on Thursday evening and the top three was Adrien then Thierry and Seb.
Straight into the action with SS2 Laukaa 1 and Seb was fastest from Esapekka and Adrien. The Frenchman’s pace gained him two positions and put him and the returning Julien into the lead from Adrien and Alex, whilst Thierry and Martijn were third. Championship leaders Elfyn and Scott were fifth after dropping behind Esapekka who’d found some pace after a huge amount of preparation for this rally.
Onto SS3 Saarikas 1 and it was a stage win for Sami from Seb and Thierry. It had been a good start to the event for the Hyundai crews as well. Sami’s pace lifted him and Marko into third overall and was only four seconds behind the leader who was Seb. Sadly, we lost Jon and Shane in this one as they slid off the road and could not get back on, even with some help from spectators.
Next up came SS4 Sydänmaa 1 and once again Seb was fastest from Sami and Elfyn. The Finn and Welshman both gained positions moving into second and fifth respectively. Unfortunately, we lost Esapekka and Enni as the car slid wide and was sent into a roll, before finishing on its roof. They were out for the day.
The final stage of the morning loop was SS5 Hoho 1 and it confirmed Toyota’s dominance after winning all the morning stages. It was Seb again who delivered this pace from Adrien and Oliver. Adrien’s pace took him into second overall, whilst Oliver was also finding some pace and moved into fourth. Further back Takamoto and Martins both gained positions as well, going into sixth and seventh. It was a painful second stage in a row for Hyundai as Thierry hit something and damaged the front right suspension. The Belgian lost over a minute and a half finishing the stage. However, they made some repairs and got back to the service park meaning they could at least continue in the afternoon.
After the service break came SS6 Laukaa 2 and Sami set the pace from Oliver and Seb. Sami passed Adrien after the Frenchman was only fourth fastest.
SS7 Saarikas 2 saw the rain arrive in a big way for the later crews meaning the first two into the stage had the best conditions. Elfyn was fastest from Takamoto and Sami. This just showed the conditions were way harder later. With big heavy rain falling and Oliver lost almost a minute. Elfyn’s pace lifted him into third overall, and less than ten seconds from the leader.
Into SS8 Sydänmaa 2 and Oliver made the best of the conditions as Elfyn was still opening the road and had the worse of the rain in this one. Martins was second fastest whilst Seb was third. It was a painful stage for Takamoto who lost over two minutes with a fogged-up windscreen for half of the stage and Sami who didn’t lose so much and was thirty-four seconds down. His teammate, Elfyn passed Sami for second overall but with Seb having the best conditions they took a healthy 26 second lead.
The last forest stage then of the day SS9 Hoho 2 and Adrien showed what their car was capable of with the fastest time from Oliver and Martins. The Latvian in the M-Sport Puma was really finding some form towards the end of the day. Elfyn trimmed Seb’s lead a little to 18 seconds.
It was two stage wins in a row for Hyundai in SS10 Harju 2 with Thierry going fastest, but with an identical time as Takamoto whilst Elfyn was third, just three tenths back.
Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“We started this morning with the plan to push because rallies like this are usually fought with very small gaps. It’s important to be in a good rhythm right away and we had a good morning, but it was still very close. This afternoon with the rain that came was a different story: then it was about trying to survive those conditions without losing too much time. It seems we managed it quite well as we increased our lead, so that’s very positive, but I’m sure the others will keep pushing and we will still have a fight on our hands for the rest of the weekend.”
Elfyn Evans
“We made a decent start this morning; the grip was changing a lot from corner to corner but the driving felt pretty committed. Then the rain arrived this afternoon and we took advantage on the second stage before the conditions deteriorated. On the next stage we got the rain pretty heavily at the start, so that was tricky to navigate, but it’s been a difficult afternoon for many people so we’re happy to get through it in this position. Seb’s had a great day and it’s a big gap to try and catch, but it’s still relatively early days in this rally and we just need to keep doing our best.”
Sami Pajari
“The morning loop was pretty decent for us, but we still had room to improve, and we tried to step up our game for the second loop. We won the first stage of the afternoon, and even in the second one when the rain came we could close the gap to Seb to just a few seconds. Then the third stage of the loop changed everything. It was really demanding for everyone, and for some reason visibility was very difficult for us and we lost a lot of time. Anyway, we are still in a podium position and the fight is still on.”
Oliver Solberg
“It’s been a pretty crazy day. This morning I never quite found the perfect feeling, but I tried to not over push and to stay in the mix. In the afternoon I felt much more comfortable, and then the heavens opened. I think we were a bit unlucky with exactly when the rain hit and when it was most intense, but we fought back later on with good speed. I’m still quite happy with our day and anything can still happen, so we keep fighting.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“It has been a frustrating day. This morning I was struggling for confidence but together with the team we changed quite a lot and in the afternoon the feeling with the car was much better; it was quite a big step. Unfortunately, in the third stage of the loop we got a lot of mist on the screen and struggled to see anything. The main priority was to stay on the road, and we lost more than two minutes. I think it was quite unlucky but there’s still two days to go and we will keep pushing.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“We had good pace today, but we went from second after the first loop to sixth overall, which is quite disappointing. The rain was incredible, I was struggling to see 20 metres in front of the car, and we were just aquaplaning on the roads. I tried my best to not make any mistakes, but time flies at this rally and it is impossible to catch it back when you lose it. I will try to take fifth place and wait and see what happens to those ahead. When the conditions were mud, and no water, it was really enjoyable, but the risk of aquaplaning is a nightmare.”
Round 10 Rally Finland
30 July – 2 August
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“I feel we were really unlucky today. We made a small mistake with a slightly too optimistic pace note and lost the rear of the car. We ran wide and caught a stone, but thankfully we made it back and the mechanics were able to fix the car. It was running very well this afternoon, but then the rain came and hit us very hard. I think myself; Adrien and Oliver were the most punished by it, and we lost a tremendous amount of time. The rally isn’t over – we’re aiming to catch two more positions, and then we will see what else is possible.”
Esapekka Lappi
“During a high-speed section, I braked a bit late, although I thought I was still able to slow the car down. I tried to turn in and make a cut on the corner, but that didn’t help, and we ended up with the rear of the car in the ditch on the exit. I thought we might have got away with it, but then the skirt lifted, and we rolled. It’s bad luck that how we landed caused damage to the roll cage, and now we’re not able to restart. It’s a shame for it to end this way, especially as we were demonstrating good speed, and we were satisfied with the preparation we did for Finland.”
Classification after Day One
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Saturday
The second full day of stages in Finland will see the crews tackle eight stages over 125 kilometres. It will be a huge challenge and it will be interesting to see how things go for the championship challengers.
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