Sebastien Ogier (above) claimed a shock WRC Rally Finland victory on Sunday after his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate, Kalle Rovanpera, rolled out on the occasion’s penultimate stage whereas holding a commanding lead.
Rovanpera had led for nearly each mile of the FIA World Rally Championship’s quickest occasion and regarded set to finish Finland’s seven-year look forward to a house winner as he began the penultimate stage with a forty five.8s benefit over Ogier. Nevertheless it all went flawed when he clipped a rogue rock, pushing his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 off the road and right into a rally-ending roll.
The 2 time and reigning champ’s shock exit means his personal quest for a primary Rally Finland win goes on. The 23-year-old Jyvaskyla native, who’s operating solely a part-time WRC schedule in 2024, completed second in 2022, however has now crashed out from the lead within the final two begins on his house high-speed gravel.
A surprised Kalle Rovanpera contemplates one other house win slipping from his grasp — this one after a roll on the penultimate stage. Picture courtesy of WRC Media
The identical 8.87-mile Sahloinen-Moksi stage had already delivered drama when Rovanpera’s Toyota teammate, Elfyn Evans, additionally left the highway whereas chasing down Tremendous Sunday factors to make up for a damaged driveshaft that plummeted him down the order on Saturday.
On his first Rally Finland begin since 2021, eight-time WRC champ Ogier was readily available to choose up the items after Rovanpera’s roll. The Frenchman, who’s additionally operating solely part-time with Toyota this season, took his 61st WRC victory by 40.1s from Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver Thierry Neuville, with M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Adrien Fourmaux some 34.0s additional again within the closing podium spot.
“It’s arduous to smile proper now,” mentioned Ogier, whose solely different win on the occasion got here with VW in 2013. “A win in Finland is at all times good, however this isn’t the way in which we wish to have it. Very sorry for Kalle and (co-driver) Jonne (Halttunen) — they had been unfortunate with the stone and it’s a disgrace for them. We had been unfortunate in Sardinia and misplaced within the final stage, however we’re fortunate right here. That’s motorsport.”
It wasn’t the way in which Sebastien Ogier would have needed to win Rally Finland, nevertheless it places the WRC part-timer within the thick of the title battle. Toyota GAZOO Racing
The late drama has shaken up the WRC drivers’ championship standings, with Ogier now as much as second, regardless of lacking three rallies earlier this 12 months. After Friday retiree Ott Tanak (Hyundai) and Evans each scored zero factors, the pair dropped to 3rd and fourth respectively.
Nevertheless it was Neuville who was the most important winner by way of the title race. Having arrived in Finland with an eight-point lead, the Belgian’s buffer now stands at 27 factors, whereas his Hyundai Motorsport manufacturing unit squad has prolonged its lead over Toyota Gazoo racing within the producers’ championship to twenty.
“It was an actual curler coaster of feelings this weekend,” mentioned Neuville. “We had a intelligent method this weekend realizing it was arduous to battle with the Toyotas. After our crew’s points (Tanak and third driver Esapekka Lappi each crashing on Friday), we knew we needed to convey the factors house.”
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville couldn’t match the tempo of the Toyotas, however nonetheless leaves Finland together with his WRC title lead prolonged. Jaanus Ree/Purple Bull Content material Pool
Fourmaux’s third-place end marked his fourth podium of the season. The Frenchman’s Puma Rally1 was by no means withing catching distance of Neuville, however a well-judged drive left it 40.0s away from Sami Pajari’s Toyota on the end.
Pajari, together with co-driver Enni Malkonen, delivered a powerful drive on his first begin within the headlining hybrid Rally1 class. After a rocky begin to their house rally, which included two Friday morning spins leading to rear wing injury, the Finnish pair claimed their first-ever WRC stage win on the Ruuhimaki check later that very same day, then saved it clear and tidy to safe fourth general.
In WRC2, the second tier of worldwide rallying, Oliver Solberg now sits 28 factors clear on the high of the championship standings after the Skoda Fabia RS driver dominated the category on the quick Finnish gravel.
The 22-year-old Swede led from begin to end and secured his third WRC2 victory of the season by 39.0s over Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala, who was making a uncommon look in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 away from his common duties because the Japanese marque’s crew principal.
Solberg and Latvala had been comparatively carefully matched by way of Friday’s opening leg on roads east of Jyvaskyla, however after Latvala shipped round 20s with a spin on Saturday afternoon, the Skoda man might afford to cruise by way of Sunday’s four-stage finale.
WRC2 drivers can nominate as much as seven rallies for championship factors, with the very best six outcomes counting to their end-of-season rating. Solberg has now contested six rounds, whereas his closest title rivals, together with Pajari (who’ll head again to WRC2 subsequent day trip, following his Rally1 one-off in Finland), and Citroen duo Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin, all have a number of occasions nonetheless to depend.
After dominating WRC2 by way of the opening legs, Oliver Solberg was capable of cruise to the category win on the ultimate day. Jaanus Ree/Purple Bull Content material Pool
The WRC stays on gravel for subsequent month’s Acropolis Rally Greece, Sept. 5-8. However the Lamia-based occasion supplies a special form of problem to the high-speed jumps and sweeps of Finland, with the tough, rock-strewn roads and excessive temperatures making the Greek basic one thing of an endurance check.
WRC Rally Finland, closing positions after Leg Three, SS20
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h25m41.9s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +40.1s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m14.1s
4 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m54.5s
5 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 chief) +8m15.5s
6 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hanninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +8m54.5s
7 Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +9m29.4s
8 Mikko Heikkila/Kristian Temonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +9m32.0s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2, non-points) +9m51.2s
10 Georg Linnamae/James Morgan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +10m07.0s
WRC Drivers’ Championship after 9 of 13 rounds
1 Neuville 168 factors
2 Ogier 141
3 Ott Tanak 137
4 Elfyn Evans 132
5 Fourmaux 119
WRC Producers’ Championship after 9 of 13 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 395 factors
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 375
3 M-Sport Ford 207
Take a look at WRC.com, the official house of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the final word WRC expertise, join a Rally.TV subscription to observe all levels of each rally reside and on demand, at any time when and wherever.
