TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team occupies the top three positions after a demanding first full day in the forests of Rally Finland, with Kalle Rovanperä leading team-mates Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier.
Following Thursday evening’s traditional Harju super special in the centre of host city Jyväskylä, Friday took the crews into the forests to the north-east for a loop of four stages run twice. Rain showers throughout the day created slippery conditions on the high-speed gravel roads, as well as rough and rutted sections during the afternoon’s second pass in particular.
There was very little to separate home hero Rovanperä and two-time event winner Evans during the morning loop, where they claimed two stage wins each and returned to Jyväskylä for mid-day service with just 0.2 seconds between them. Rovanperä began the afternoon loop with two more stage wins to open up his advantage, which stands at eight seconds at the end of the day.
Ogier was also strong on his first day of competition in the Finnish forests for almost three years, and finished the day just 0.6s behind Evans after winning a shorter second run over Harju.
Sami Pajari experienced challenging conditions for his first full day competing at the top level of the FIA World Rally Championship, and sustained damage in a high-speed spin on the morning’s first stage, but impressed with his performance during the afternoon including a maiden stage win in SS9 as he ended the day sixth overall.
Takamoto Katsuta was running in fourth place overall until SS5 when an impact with a tree damaged the right-rear corner of his car. He was able to complete the stage and tried to reach mid-day service but unfortunately had to retire from the day on the road section. The team could later repair the damage so that he can restart tomorrow.
Driving a GR Yaris Rally2 car entered by TGR-WRT on his home event, Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala is ninth overall and second in the WRC2 class.
Quotes:
Kaj Lindström (Sporting Director)
“This is obviously a great position for us to be in after the first full day of Rally Finland but there’s still a long way to go. It was a difficult day with these local rain showers which were also quite heavy, and were not making it easy for the drivers. But Kalle, Elfyn and Seb all did a remarkable job and we can be really happy with their positions tonight. Sami also did a really good and mature day after a difficult start: he was calm enough to bring the car back to service like we asked him to, then went out this afternoon and drove really well, and his first stage win in Ruuhimäki was the cherry on the cake of an impressive performance. That Taka had to stop at the end of the morning was the only disappointment of today, but it was a difficult place where he got caught out and at least our mechanics could repair the car and get him straight back out there tomorrow.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“It was a really good day. The conditions were difficult for everyone and in the morning I was struggling, so I tried to keep it steady. We also made some changes to the car setup with each stage and by the last one of the loop, we had found a better feeling. Then in the afternoon when the conditions were clearer we could have better pace. Tomorrow will be difficult: long and difficult stages with a small gap, so nothing is decided. It’s always good to be fighting with team-mates as it means there are three Toyotas at the top!”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It was a day with changeable weather, so I’m happy to reach the end given how unpredictable the road conditions were. The grip was not too bad in some points but at other times it was quite tricky, and the cuts were quite muddy, so for once it was not a disadvantage to be running high in the road order. We managed to keep it mistake-free, and it’s been very close between the three of us so far in these difficult conditions. There are some amazing stages ahead tomorrow – but very demanding too. We have to enjoy them and try and get the most out of them.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“I’m happy to be where we are in a podium place tonight. I think my performance level was not so bad after not doing this rally the last two years. This morning it was tricky to judge the grip in places. The conditions were more or less consistent, but there were still a couple of corners which were not easy to anticipate. This afternoon we lost a bit of ground to Kalle but we expected that and it’s been a positive day for the team overall. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow as it features the best stages of this rally, including Ouninpohja. I haven’t done the first stage, Västilä, before so I’ll have to be on it against the others who did it last year.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“This morning the conditions were very tricky and inconsistent. Some corners were slippery, some had good grip and it was very difficult to judge. But our loop was going quite well until the mistake I made at the beginning of the last stage. It was a very slippery corner, I went a bit wide and the rear snapped around and hit the tree on the outside. We tried to bring the car back to service but unfortunately the wheel didn’t stay attached and we had to stop. It’s disappointing because I wanted to push from the start and get a good result. Thanks to the team for fixing the car so we can drive again tomorrow: I will try to get back the feeling and do my best.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“What a rollercoaster of emotions this day has been. The pace was good in the first stage this morning but I made a silly mistake, damaging the rear of the car. But the afternoon loop was really good; on the first stage I was second-fastest behind Kalle and when the stages had conditions that I was used to and had experience of, then everything was coming to me quite naturally. I wasn’t chasing a stage win on Ruuhimäki but it was a clean drive and I was enjoying it. Even though the start of the day wasn’t so great, we didn’t give up; you need to refocus and keep going. It’s only my first day in a Rally1 car but it already feels like a long story! Thank you to everyone and to Toyota.”
End of day two (Friday):
1 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 58m24.7s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +8.0s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +8.6s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +25.5s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +48.5s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m31.0s
7 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +1m52.7s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3m22.0s
9 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3m46.1s
10 Robert Virves/Aleks Lesk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3m53.3s
TBC Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +51m35.3s
(Results as of 21:15 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What's next?
Saturday is the longest day of the rally in terms of distance with 144.22 competitive kilometres to be driven across two loops of three stages on classic roads south-west of Jyväskylä, close to Jämsä. This includes a return for the legendary Ouninpohja for the first time since 2017: at 32.98 km it’s the longest stage of the rally.
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