Today’s route takes in two identical loops of four stages covering a total of 150.48 competitive kilometres but after the first passage of stages, Meeke has again stamped his authority on the event. The DS3 WRC driver was a stunning 13.4 seconds quicker than any of his rivals through the legendary Ouninpohja opener, run in reverse this year, immediately extending has advantage over Latvala. He claimed another fastest time in the third stage and heads back into the repeated stages this afternoon in confident mood and with a healthy lead.

Latvala has run without problems and has nearly a minute in hand to third-placed Breen who is embroiled in a massive battle for the position. 12.7 seconds adrift is Thierry Neuville who struggled to get into the rhythm early this morning, but no fewer than four other drivers are all just a handful of seconds adrift of him as they vie for the final podium position. Tanak, fastest in SS14, has made a great recovery after yesterday’s problems and looked set to take third until another puncture in the penultimate stage of the loop dropped him back to eighth. Leading retirements of the morning included Lorenzo Bertelli and Eric Camilli, both of whom went off but escaped serious injury.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship category, Esapekka Lappi heads Teemu Suninen by nearly a minute, and young Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby leads the Junior WRC Championship contenders.