Ott Tänak continues to head the Rally Finland leaderboard having once again stretched his advantage during the repeated stages this afternoon. Despite only winning one stage - shared with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala - the Estonian heads into Sunday’s four stages with 39 seconds in hand to second-placed Mads Østberg. The Norwegian has however come under intense pressure from Latvala this afternoon and the pair are split by just 5.4 seconds with 45 competitive kilometres to go.

Tänak remains totally in control of the event and has had a great rhythm throughout. He jointly won the first of the afternoon stages with Latvala and despite carrying a small power steering problem through the remaining stages, has extended his advantage and is on track for what would be a momentous victory on one of the fastest, most spectacular and specialised events on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar. Østberg has felt the balance of his C3 WRC has been affected by carrying two spare wheels all afternoon, but it was a safe bet based on the high tyre wear the team has been experiencing this weekend. After set-up changes during the mid-day service, Latvala has been flying, so much so he wondered how he never went off the road in the final stage on worn tyres. He has chipped away at a 20.9 second deficit to Østberg after the first loop to close the gap to a handful of seconds, setting up a titanic battle tomorrow.

Esapekka Lappi, last year’s winner, has also been on a charge and the Finn has moved from eighth last night to fourth this evening. He has been mindful of taking too many risks but has been flying through the stages, setting three of the four fastest times this afternoon. Hayden Paddon was a victim of Lappi’s pace, the Kiwi dropping some time conserving tyres, but he lost out to the Finn in the third stage when he had to back off because of the tyre wear. The three Fiesta WRCs of Teemu Suninen, Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans remain sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, none of the crews being able to improve on their positions. Suninen has struggled for grip in places, Ogier has continued to try different set-ups in an effort to improve the car with its new aero package, and Evans had a big impact and then felt the Fiesta had lost some balance. Each will now doubtless be focused on reaching the finish and picking up some valuable points. Craig Breen lost a bit of confidence in the car mid-afternoon and continues to rue running near the front of the field after picking up problems on the first day on a number of recent events. Thierry Neuville has had a better afternoon, albeit with a small brake problem, and he too will want whatever points he can salvage from another difficult Rally Finland for the Hyundai team. Team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen has managed to climb to 11th after his accident on Friday.

Kalle Rovanperä provided the drama in the FIA WRC 2 Championship this afternoon. After winning two of the first three stages, the young Finn – who had a commanding 54 second lead over Eerik Pietarinen – hit something which damaged the front suspension. Kilometres later the strut punctured through the Škoda’s bonnet leaving him to struggle through the penultimate stage. His lead was slashed to two seconds but he managed to continue into the final stage where it appears in his haste to try and make some repairs they forgot to latch the bonnet pins. With the bonnet flying up, he lost yet more time, albeit only dropping to fourth and 46 seconds off Pietarinen’s lead. Ken Torn continues to top the FIA Junior / WRC 3 Championships but the Estonian has a chasing Emil Bergkvist on his heels, the pair now split by 12.7 seconds.

Rally Finland – Unofficial results after Section 5