Latvala Leads in Finland
Sebastien Ogier, came into Rally Finland with his championship lead over Thierry Neuville reduced to 11 points, but had complained of a throttle problem at the end of Friday's second stage Urria and fell from second to sixth. His M-Sport Ford then came to a halt following Jukojarvi stage, with Ogier reported to have taken a rear wheel off his Fiesta and gone off into the trees following a heavy landing on a jump.
Ogier's team-mate Ott Tanak had led the rally's first three stages but ran wide and clouted a rock early on Jukojarvi, sustaining a puncture and also suspected driveshaft damage, losing a minute and a half limping through the stage. Jari-Matti Latvala had been closing in on Tanak, reducing the gap down to 0.3 seconds by the end of Urria, and now leads the rally in a Toyota one-two ahead of Esapekka Lappi.
Hayden Paddon was third behind Tanak and Latvala before Jukojarvi but damaged his Hyundai's right rear suspension early on the stage and had to retire from the first leg. While his title rival is out, Neuville has failed to capitalise on the opportunity, struggling for speed on the early Finnish stages and was only 12th after SS3 before rising to ninth with the problems ahead.
Top Ten Positions
1 Latvala
2 Lappi +5.3s
3 Breen +8.1s
4 Suninen +8.3s
5 Ostberg +10.9s
6 Hanninen +11.7s
7 Meeke +12.8s
8 Evans +14.0s
9 Neuville +19.4s
10 Sordo +34.4s
28th July, 2017