Toyota rookies Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm held their nerve over the closing stages of Rally Finland to take an incredible win in only their fourth event in a world rally car.  Despite a late scare in the penultimate stage, the Finns claimed victory on home soil by 36 seconds while an epic battle for second position also raged behind them. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt made an amazing recovery after the opening day and fought to the end to claim second, overhauling Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström by just three-tenths of a second.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Sébastien Ogier’s retirement paved the way for second-placed Thierry Neuville to capitalise. While the Belgian didn’t have a great weekend, Championship and additional Power Stage points sufficed and he now sits on equal points with Ogier at the head of the leaderboard. With three wins to his name, against Ogier’s two, Neuville will head the field into the next round of the series. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, again Ogier’s exit was looking bad for M-Sport but points from Evans and Tänak saw the British team extend its advantage over Hyundai, the Korean manufacturer struggling with all its cars in Finland.

Sunday covered just two loops of two identical stages and Lappi had a mere 33.84 competitive kilometres to live the dream of winning. The 26-year-old Finn started the day with 49.1 seconds in hand after team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was forced to retire yesterday while leading. Lappi could afford to drop time to his rivals today and tried to drive at a measured pace, but after a faultless rally he had a late scare in the penultimate stage when he clouted something and broke a wheel. A quick wheel change and refocus held the young Finn in good stead however and he powered to an amazing victory in the Yaris WRC, the car’s second win in its debut season. Elfyn Evans went into the day fourth, fighting hard for the final podium position. With set-up changes during the weekend and differing road and weather conditions, the Welshman was able to improve significantly every day and when Teemu Suninen and Hänninen both dropped time he was able to capitalise on his position and climb to second. Hänninen’s time loss was as a consequence of hitting a straw ball, but the Finn still managed to hold on to a podium position, his first-ever in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Behind the leading trio, Teemu Suninen suffered disappointment; the Finn - second starting the day - had to give it everything and paid the price with a massive spin. He dropped from second to fourth instantly but will nevertheless be happy with his position in only his second event in a world rally car. Craig Breen once again finished fifth and was the lead Citroën, his team-mate Kris Meeke glad to put a tortuous weekend of handling issues behind him after finishing eighth. Neuville eventually finished sixth in the Hyundai, all three i20 WRCs struggling with set-up on Rally Finland. With the additional points scored in the Power Stage though, the most important thing for the Belgian was closing the points deficit to Ogier. Ott Tänak’s strategy to save his tyres for the Power Stage paid off and he took the maximum points and finished seventh overall. Behind eighth-placed Meeke, Dani Sordo was ninth and pleased to put a difficult event behind him, and Mads Østberg rounded off the top 10, claiming it was one of his best performances.

The FIA WRC 2 Championship saw another home win. Jari Huttunen took a big advantage into the day and won by over two minutes in his Škoda Fabia R5. Quentin Gilbert and Tom Cave rounded off the category podium. The Junior WRC Championship was once again intense with no fewer than three of the crews rolling in the penultimate stage. In the end, Nicolas Ciamin took a convincing win over series leader Nils Solans.

The 10th round of the FIA World Rally Championship sees a change of surface as the crews head to Rallye Deutschland (17-20 August). After a string of loose surface events, it’s onto tarmac and another tricky event on the calendar that requires precision driving and an ability to adapt to ever-changing weather conditions. 

Rally Finland – Final Provisional Results (subject to scrutineering)