DS3 WRC driver Kris Meeke has pulled out an impressive advantage during the first full day of Rally Finland after early challenger Ott Tanak hit problems. The Northern Irishman is now 18.1 seconds ahead of local hero Jari-Matti Latvala with Thierry Neuville climbing to third this afternoon for Hyundai. Reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier has been fighting hard all day but, on the limit, the Volkswagen driver made an uncharacteristic error and was stuck in a ditch for over 15 minutes.

Neste Rally Finland got underway last night with a spectacular street stage in the city of Jyvaskyla but today the contenders headed into the forests for some of the event’s classic stages, as well as two new ones. A long day for the crews saw them leave for the 11 stages at 06:00 hrs and return nearly 16 hours later after 146.85 kilometres of high-speed action.

Tanak and Andreas Mikkelsen shared the honours on last night’s street stage but today it was Meeke and Tanak who dominated centre stage, Meeke leading the rally throughout the entire day. The DS3 WRC driver kicked the action off with a fastest time in SS2 and one more stage win during the morning loop saw him pull out an 18.8 second advantage over Latvala, Tanak hitting problems in stage 5. The Estonian, who had targeted Poland and Finland for potential victories, was fastest through SS4 to sit just seven-tenths of a second adrift of Meeke, but in the following stage broken front suspension threw him into a spin and he lost more than 30 seconds. While he managed to claw back time during the day, a puncture dropped him yet more precious seconds and he slipped back down the leaderboard again. More fastest times from Meeke this afternoon underlined his pace, all the more impressive since he hasn’t been in WRC competitive action since Rally de Portugal – which he won – back in May.

Latvala started well but he ran wide in SS4, hit a bank and punctured. Undeterred, the leading Finn has set his share of fastest times during the day and after a great run during the afternoon is poised to delight the home crowd again tomorrow. He has a comfortable cushion over third-placed Neuville, the Belgian missing grip and traction this morning. Set-up changes during the mid-leg service weren’t entirely successful but he still ran well, fighting hard in a four-way battle for the position. Mikkelsen is currently his nearest rival, the Norwegian running as high as third before losing time sliding wide into a ditch. He is just 1.1 seconds adrift and only 8.4 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Craig Breen. Once again, Breen has impressed in his limited programme in the DS3 WRC, despite a couple of small errors, and he sits just 4.4 seconds ahead of Hayden Paddon who in turn is fighting with Mads Østberg. All four drivers are split by less than 20 seconds this evening.

Behind this battle and eighth-placed Tanak, Eric Camilli is ninth in his first Rally Finland outing in a World Rally Car. In the FIA WRC 2 Championship category, competition has been fierce but Finland’s own Esapekka Lappi holds the lead overnight after battling hard with Teemu Suninen, Elfyn Evans and Pontus Tidemand. Evans eventually fell away from the trio with power steering problems in the penultimate stage. The FIA Junior WRC Championship is being led by Ole Christian Veiby and again, big fights have taken place in this two-wheel drive category.

Rally Finland – Unofficial Classification after Section 3