Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle claimed a historic win in Rally Finland today, securing their third WRC victory and second this season after a dominant drive in the DS3 WRC. For Meeke, he becomes the first British driver to win Rally Finland, an event that has run 66 times and been won by Finns on no fewer than 54 occasions. Local heroes Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were unable to claim a hat-trick of victories on their home rally but took second in the Polo R WRC, while Ireland’s Craig Breen, co-driven by Britain’s Scott Martin, claimed their first-ever WRC podium by finishing third overall in the sister DS3 WRC.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Championship leader Sébastien Ogier failed to score points for the first time since Spain 2015 but the reigning World Champion continues to head the leaderboard by 45 points. Team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen retains second and Jari-Matti Latvala rounds off a one-two-three in the Championship standings for Volkswagen. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, the German manufacturer claimed maximum points with Latvala, Meeke’s Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team not registered for points this season. Volkswagen therefore continues to lead with a 59 point advantage over Hyundai Motorsport.

Today’s route was the shortest of the event and took in two identical loops of two stages covering 33.96 competitive kilometres. With a healthy overnight advantage, Meeke was able to control the pace at the head of the field and only lost 10.1 of his 41 second lead to claim what will surely be the most significant victory of his career. Despite being in his own backyard, Latvala was simply unable to match Meeke’s pace throughout the event and was denied a third consecutive home win in the Polo R WRC. Breen has shone all weekend and the Irishman claimed his first fastest WRC stage time as well as his best-ever WRC result. Of the leading trio, he was the only one to have to keep pushing, such was the gap to a chasing Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon. He ultimately finished just 4.6 seconds ahead of Neuville after 333.60 kilometres of competition.

Neuville inched up the leaderboard after the second stage today following the retirement of Ott Tanak, the Estonian off the road and stuck in a ditch. Nevertheless, he had a fight to the finish on his hands with team-mate Paddon, who finished just 2.3 seconds adrift in the sister Hyundai i20 WRC, the Power Stage win securing the position for Neuville. Mads Østberg struggled with the handling of his Fiesta RS WRC in the penultimate stage but made it to the finish in sixth position. After running first on the road yesterday, following Ogier’s brake problems, Andreas Mikkelsen finished a disappointing seventh.

Home-grown talent Esapekka Lappi finished a fine eighth overall in his Škoda Fabia R5 and won the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. The Finn led from start to finish to head fellow Škoda driver Teemu Suninen, significantly boosting his Championship title hopes. In the FIA Junior WRC Championship, Ole Christian Veiby notched up his second category win and first of the season. The Norwegian won nearly half the stages and finished 5.6 seconds ahead of Championship leader Simone Tempestini.

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head to Germany’s tarmac event based in the Roman city of Trier (18-21 August).

Rally Finland – Final Official Classification