Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen finally won Rally Finland, laying to rest the ghost of last year when they crashed out on the penultimate stage.

It was a scintillating final Wolf Power Stage which Rovanperä won by two seconds from Takamoto Katsuta and Sebastien Ogier.

The Finnish wunderkind took the Super Sunday bonus points and moves into second place in the championship standings, just three points off Elfyn Evans who reclaimed the title lead after a disastrous weekend for Ott Tanak.

Tanak suffered a delaminated tyre which caused a high-speed spin on the final stage while Adrien Fourmaux suffered yet another puncture and retired four km from the end of the stage to avoid further damage to his car.

Elfyn Evans brought his GR Yaris home in fourth overall having won the morning’s first stage by 0.4 seconds from Ogier.

Sami Pajari came home in fifth overall, giving Toyota a top five lockout, only the second time in history, a feat last achieved by Lancia 35 years ago on Rally Portugal in 1990.

Thierry Neuville brought his Hyundai home in sixth overall, having run in second place until his fateful puncture on stage 16 on Saturday afternoon.

Josh McErlean was the top M-Sport Ford crew in seventh, followed by Martins Sesks and Gregoire Munster. Ott Tanak salvaged a single point for tenth.

Roope Korhonen fended off TGR Team boss Jari-Matti Latvala to claim his maiden WRC2 victory with Robert Virves rounding out the podium.

Read Motorsport Monday for the full story on the fastest rally in history where Rovanperä averaged 129.9km/h!

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Wet weather greeted the competitors on Saturday morning as the longest day of Rally Finland got underway.

Overnight, Ott Tanak was given a five-minute penalty for a scrutineering incident in a tyre checking zone after stage seven, where he had just crashed into a tree. The penalty dropped the Estonian down to 24^th position in the overall standings.

Rovanperä, chasing his first home win, set off to increase his lead which he almost doubled from 4.9 to 8.3 seconds after Saturday’s opening stage. On stage 12, the Finn’s lead was 12.0 seconds but on (unlucky) stage 13, he picked up a slow puncture and lost 2.7 seconds to Thierry Neuville, who still held second overall.

Rovanperä powered his GR Yaris to another stage win to extend his lead to 14.7 seconds at the end of the morning loop after Neuville lost the rear brakes on his Hyundai. The podium fight between the Belgian and Adrien Fourmaux in third was down to 0.3 seconds.

After the midday service, it was raining again and the crews faced tough conditions. Martins Sesks crawled through the first part of stage 15 with zero visibility and finally found a safe place to pull over and clear the misted-up windscreen. He lost over two minutes and dropped from being the leading M-Sport crew to tenth overall.

At the sharp end of the field, Sebastien Ogier took his first stage win with the top five drivers covered by a mere 1.2 seconds. Sami Pajari turned up the wick to take the fastest time in stage 16 having lost his sixth place overall to Elfyn Evans on the previous stage.

Stage 16 tuned the rally on its head. Lightning struck Hyundai twice; firstly, Fourmaux picked up a right-front puncture which did quite a bit of cosmetic damage to his i20 N as he continued, albeit at a reduced pace and moments later, Neuville also picked up a right-front puncture.

Fourmaux dropped a minute 48.8 seconds and plummeted to seventh, while Neuville lost one minute 38.2 seconds and dropped to sixth overall. Both drivers said they had no idea how their punctures had happened…

Suddenly, Toyota held a one-two-three-four-five with Rovanperä streaking away with a twenty-nine second lead over Takamoto Katsuta, Ogier, Evans and Pajari.

The final two stages went off without any incidents, with Rovanperä taking the scratch time in both stages to end the day with a 36.8 second lead while Evans was closing on Ogier with 1.5 seconds separating the pair.

In WRC2, Roope Korhonen continues to lead with Jar-Matti Latvala holding second from Robert Virves.

The final day features just two stages; the iconic Ouninpohja stage, at 23.98km in length will be run twice.

It is far from over…

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Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen ended the first full day of WRC Secto Rally Finland with a 4.9 second lead over Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. Those are the bare facts but do not tell the spectacular story.

In a rally where stages are won by tenths of a second, or even tied in a dead heat, 4.9 seconds is considered a decent lead, as the double world champion fights for his first ever victory on his home event.

After winning the opening superspecial stage on Thursday evening around the streets of Jyväskylä. Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja slithered down the order on Friday as they opened the road in the Hyundai i20 N.

Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen won the opening stage from Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston by 0.1 seconds with Rovanperä a further 0.3 behind.

The Japanese and Finn drivers shared the early overall leaderboard before Rovanperä went on the rampage, setting spectacular stage times as he won stages three and four and took the rally lead which he stretched out over the course of the day as he added stage seven to his tally, but it was still super close with the top four separated by eight seconds.

The fight for second was breathtaking; 3.2 seconds covered Neuville in second, Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria in third and Katsuta.

The defending world champion won stage nine and finished three stages with a top three time as he came on song in the afternoon loop, which saw rain turn the stages into damp and muddy roads.

Fourmaux won stage eight, which he tied with Rovanperä, and stage ten to cement his provisional podium place which he took off Katsuta after stage nine.

Katsuta had his strongest morning since the Safari Rally with two second fastest times and held second position overall but after the midday service, his driving became more flawed on the wet stages and slid down to fourth, despite winning stage six.

Pajari took stage five but in the first wet stage after lunch, he was overcautious and with the eighth fastest time on the board, he dropped to fifth overall.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais, winners in Finland last year, were strangely off the pace in their Toyota GR Yaris and found themselves in sixth overnight with a mountain to climb over the remaining stages. Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin were also off the leading pace, running second on the road all day.

Martins Sesks and Renārs Francis were the leading M-Sport Ford runners as expected in eighth with Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy holding ninth ahead of the 2019 champions Tanak and Jarveoja.

The Estonian, who took the championship lead after Rally Estonia two weeks ago, suffered from running first on the road and his situation worsened when he did a bit of logging in the forest after understeering into a tree in stage seven. The damage appeared to be cosmetic, and he completed stage eight with a flapping bonnet and a second-hand sounding engine, but the Hyundai made it back to service.

Gregoire Munster and Louis Louka were disappointing in their Puma. Munster had a huge slide in a fast right hander and dropped 22 seconds in stage two and had a full spin in stage four after out braking himself and ended up at the bottom of the Rally1 runners.

Roope Korhonen leads WRC2 from Robert Virves with Georg Linnamäe holding third from Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.

Oliver Solberg went from hero to zero after rolling out of the rally in stage seven; the car understeered at speed into a ditch which pitched car over. And out.

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Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson stunned the WRC elite with a commanding display across the high-speed gravel roads of Estonia, sealing his breakthrough win on debut in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 – nearly 20 years after father Petter’s final WRC success in 2005.

With an overnight lead of 21.1 seconds heading into Sunday’s final three stages and 60km of racing, it was a nervous Solberg who faced a wet-dry stage. He made no mistakes and set the fastest time, as he did on the 24km long penultimate test, taking his tally to nine stage wins.

Solberg also took the maximum Super Sunday bonus points. “After everything, so many years trying and trying and trying and dreaming, and me and Elliott finally made it,” said Solberg. “I just want to say thank you to Toyota, to the test team who helped me get so comfortable, for all the help this weekend from this beautiful, beautiful team. I’ve never had such a good time in my life.”

Home hero Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja brought their Hyundai i20 home in second place and took the championship lead by one point from Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe completed the podium after Hyundai called time-out on their ferocious fight on Saturday. The current world champion was slapped with a 10-second penalty for a jumped start on the first stage of the day.

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen finished a humbling and lonely fourth overall, with the three-time Rally Estonia winner taking the Wolf Power Stage win.

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria ended fifth overall having left bits of their Hyundai in the Estonian countryside after a nose-first landing in the day’s opening stage.

Evans and Scott Martin passed Takamoto Katsuta for sixth in the penultimate stage, but the Japanese driver was forced to retire before the final test.

Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen ended seventh ahead of M-Sport Ford’s leading crew, Martins Sesks and Renars Francis, with Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy and Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka rounding out the top ten in their Puma Rally1 machines.

Robert Virves and Jakko Viilo claimed their maiden WRC win on home soil ahead of fellow Estonians Georg Linnamäe and James Morgan.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

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Oliver Solberg continued his domination of WRC Delfi Rally Estonia on Saturday, increasing his overnight lead to 21.1 seconds after winning three stages on the fly on Saturday morning.

His Friday performance was helped by a favourable road position, but it was a level playing field on Saturday with three drivers boasting four championships between them, trying to hunt him down to no avail.

Another fastest time on stage 15 kept his confidence high while conceding a few tenths here and there after he claimed he would wind his speed down a bit.

“It’s been an absolutely amazing day,” said Solberg, whose father Petter was the 2003 world champion. “Really consistent speed, no mistakes, just trying to keep it clean. It wasn’t the plan to extend the gap, but hey, it’s fantastic.

“I’m just doing my thing and trying to do every stage as good as I can and as clean as I can with no mistakes, and today there have been no mistakes. They are pushing so hard behind, and I can feel it – it’s tense.”

Behind the flying Toyota, it was all out war between Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville as they fought over second position overall. They traded places six times during the day, with the margin between them as close as 0.1 seconds after stage 13.

A ‘suggestion’ from Hyundai’s bosses that it was critically important to bring both cars home in second and third to maximize their Manufacturers’ points saw Neuville lose a little confidence, leaving Tanak four seconds ahead of his teammate at the end of play.

Kalle Rovanperä holds fourth in no-man’s land, too far behind the Hyundais and sufficiently ahead of fifth placed Adrien Fourmaux to gain or lose any positions in the standings. Rovanperä wrung his Toyota’s neck, and tried numerous changes during the day to improve matters but admitted he and Toyota Gazoo Racing were out of options to find more speed.

Fourmaux had a steady run in the third i20 N, successfully absorbing Takamoto Katsuta’s pressure to leave the Japanese Toyota driver trailing by 8.6 seconds in fifth and sixth respectively.

Elfyn Evans was expected to challenge Katsuta and Fourmaux, given his more favourable position of fifth on the road, but he languished in seventh place and like his teammate, simply lacked pace across the longest day of the rally. Not only did he fail to make any progress climbing up the leader board, but he also dropped a couple of seconds further back.

Sami Pajari ended eighth overall, 34 seconds ahead of M-Sport Ford’s leading Puma in the hands of Martins Sesks. Josh McErlean rounded out the top ten with Grégoire Munster languishing in last in the Rally1 class after spending Saturday running first on the road.

Robert Virves continues to lead in WRC2 with a comfortable margin of 26.5 seconds over his fellow Estonian Georg Linnamäe.

Three stages and 60km remain for Sunday, with the possibility of rain at roughly the time the Wolf Power Stage is scheduled to start…

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It may be just a one-off outing in Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR Yaris Rally1 for Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson, but the 23-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands by winning three of Rally Estonia’s six Friday stages.

Solberg was blisteringly quick through Friday morning’s opening 24.35km stage, the longest of the rally, beating his double world champion teammate Kalle Rovanperä by 5.3 seconds, and grabbing the lead of the rally which he held throughout the day.

Solberg went on to win stage four, the repeat of stage two, again beating his illustrious teammate by 2.8 seconds. The young Swede’s third career stage win came on SS7. Stages three, five and six saw Solberg set the second fastest time to close out his return to the top class with a 12.4 second cushion.

“To be leading the rally and to have won a few stages, and to have this amazing feeling in the car, you know – this day has been all about fun,” Solberg grinned. “I don’t know what to say – It’s just been the best day of my life.”

Home hero Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja won stage three, taking second overall off Rovanperä, and went on to set the fastest time on stage five, cementing his overall position in the standings. “It’s just so loose and [there’s] no grip whatsoever,” he said. “I did everything I could, it is as it is at the moment.”

Hyundai’s defending champion Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe ended the day in third position. The Belgian duo won the opening super special stage on Thursday but lost time in Friday’s morning loop. Neuville did not have confidence in his car to challenge but after the midday service, he began to reel Tanak in. 1.8 seconds separates the two i20 N drivers after Neuville took the scratch time on the day’s final super special stage.

Rovanperä ended the day in fourth overall, 5.9 seconds behind Neuville. “It’s pretty much the maximum we can do with this car and the current feeling,” the Finn reflected.

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria ended the day in fifth overall after a frustrating morning as he battled for grip. Set-up changes in service transformed his Hyundai and he immediately went on to win SS 6 and only lost the top spot in stage seven by 0.3 second to Solberg.

Takamoto Katsuta succumbed to Fourmaux’s newfound speed which was compounded by a spin and intercom issues to end sixth overall in the third TGR Yaris.

Elfyn Evans, first on the road as championship leader, struggled for traction and languished in eighth – ahead of fellow Toyota driver Sami Pajari, whose morning was hampered by an intermittent power loss.

Mārtiņš Sesks and Josh McErlean rounded out the top 10 in M-Sport Ford Pumas, split by 18.6sec. Grégoire Munster was 11th after a difficult day that included brake issues, a tyre deflation and an overshoot.

In WRC2, Robert Virves is dominating the category with a 34.4 second lead over his Estonian countryman Georg Linnamäe. Roope Korhonen, Mikko Heikkila and Lauri Joona round out the top five.

Pre-event favourite Nikolay Gryazin crashed out early in stage two.

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After dominant victories in WRC2 in Rally Sweden, Portugal and most recently, Greece, which saw Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson take the championship lead, the on-form duo is set to return to Rally1 with Toyota Gazoo Racing on Delfi Rally Estonia in two weeks’ time.

It will be the young Swede’s first Rally1 appearance since splitting with Hyundai in 2022 and reported to be a one-off appearance.

“The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here,” Solberg said in a video message shared on social media. “Me and Elliott will be back in the Rally1 car with Toyota Gazoo Racing. It’s been a moment, and a dream come true. We’ve been waiting for a very long time.”

“After a super strong season so far, I think we’re more than ready. We’re confident, we’ve built a great relationship with the team, and now I just want to start the rally and give it a good go. Let’s see what we can do – we’re there to have some fun, gain experience with the car, and hopefully make the most of this opportunity.”

Solberg’s absence from the WRC2 bunfight leaves the fight wide open with Nikolay Gryazin the likely favourite for the category win.

In other news out of the Toyota Gazoo Racing camp is that Sebastien Ogier has elected to enter Rally Finland at the end of the month.

hinting that the lure of the Jyväskylä jumps and last year’s success – where he claimed a second career Finland victory – proved too tempting to resist.

Ogier had not previously been expected to appear at the high-speed gravel event this year, but admitted the idea had been on his mind for some time.

“My summer will actually not be as free as initially planned,” he explained. “Since a little while, I was thinking that doing again Rally Finland would be something nice, as obviously last year was a great rally for me with my second win up there.

“So I mentioned since a while ago to the team that, yeah, why not maybe adding Rally Finland to the list and try to have fun on these beautiful roads. So yeah, I will be at the start in a bit more than four weeks now, so I’m looking forward to see you there.”

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja clinched their and Hyundai’s first victory in eight months after winning the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece by 32.8 seconds over Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais in  a tense final day.

On the Wolf Power Stage Tanak dropped 16 seconds to Ogier which turned out to be gearbox related which cost the rally winner the maximum Super Sunday points which were scooped up by Ogier.

The top two each won a pair of stages on Sunday while Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria stood on the podium for the first time since Monte Carlo back in January.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin brought their Toyota home in fourth place to maintain their championship lead, albeit reduced to just nine points ahead of Ogier with Tanak three points further back in third on the title log.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe came home in fifth after a scare on the penultimate stage when his i20 N lost power. He was forced to stop and reset the computer but it didn’t help and the Belgians lost 1:28s.

Oliver Solberg was a remarkable sixth overall – his third straight victory in WRC2, some 53.8 seconds ahead of his old teammate Gus Greensmith.

Yohan Rossel, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Alejandro Cachon rounded out the top ten.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja dominated EKO Acropolis Rally Greece on Saturday, delivered a near faultless performance, taking five stage wins from six – beaten only by Sebastian Ogier on SS10 and then by just 0.1 seconds as the Toyota Gazoo Racing star held on to second overall.

Tanak takes a 43.6 second lead into Sunday’s four stage finale, on the cusp of giving Hyundai their long awaited first victory of the season.

 “We’ve generally had a very good day. Even in the afternoon, it’s true that some bedrock was threatening us sometimes, but generally it was smoother and more consistent – a bit better than expected. We had a good rhythm, and we maintained all day. While we are still in the lead, it’s important to remember that we haven’t scored any points yet and we still have some rough stages to go, including one that is new and very long, so this is always very demanding. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow to bring this home.”

Ogier initially trailed Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux until he clobbered a a piece of Greek countryside which damaged their suspension, but a makeshift fix got them back on the road and to midday service – dropping them to third overall.

While a tyre came off its rim on SS11, Fourmaux was undeterred, and still managed to claim a top-five stage time to retain his overall position. After a tyre came off the rim in stage 11, the rest of day was smooth sailing, and the crew go into Sunday with a comfortable cushion of just under a minute from Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin.

Evans remained a distant fourth after a steady but unspectacular day. The Toyota man repeatedly described the conditions as “very rough” and ended the leg over three minutes off the lead – but with championship rival Thierry Neuville behind, Sunday’s bonus-point opportunities remain critical.

Kalle Rovanperä was running mid-pack before losing his brakes and going off in SS11, while Takamoto Katsuta also went off and became beached in the same test leading to retirement for both Toyota drivers.

It was another bruising leg for Neuville. After losing time to a puncture in the morning, the Hyundai man fought back into fifth overall – though still over a minute behind Evans.

“We had the pace,” Neuville reflected. “But three punctures [this weekend] didn’t allow us to do what we can.”

Grégoire Munster completed the leg sixth despite nursing a faulty handbrake throughout the day. Oliver Solberg continued to lead WRC2 in seventh overall with a comfortable buffer over Gus Greensmith, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Yohan Rossel.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja ended a rough, puncture-riddled opening day of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece with a three second lead over Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, giving Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT hope for a repeat win on one of their most successful events.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais ended third in their Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris, some 16.9 seconds off the lead, having led the event heading into the mid-day service break.

Thierry Neuville controlled a Hyundai one-two-three after stage three before the Belgian’s miserable luck continued when he suffered a left-front puncture in stage four, the final test of the morning loop, leaving the i20 N trailing home 40 seconds adrift and on three tyres and a rim.

“It was the right decision to carry on,” Neuville explained. “Obviously disappointing, but the rally is long. There are going to be a lot of punctures.”

Behind the leading trio, Sami Pajari continued his impressive form, briefly holding third overall and ending the loop in fourth. He was 4.9sec ahead of Kalle Rovanperä, who has struggled with confidence and reported excessive oversteer in his GR Yaris.

Neuville is sixth, followed by Elfyn Evans, who is enduring a tough start to his Acropolis campaign. First on the road, the Welshman described his car as “really difficult to turn” and dropped 42.5sec off the lead by midday.

Grégoire Munster was eighth, with WRC2 frontrunners Oliver Solberg and Kajetan Kajetanowicz rounding out the overall top 10. Mārtiņš Sesks, Takamoto Katsuta and Josh McErlean all dropped time earlier in the loop after stopping to change wheels.

Ogier’s pace ebbed away in the afternoon, dropping to third behind the top two Hyundais. Fourmaux was on fine form, taking two stage wins on the bounce. Evans was fourth, a solid run after sweeping the road in the morning stages.

Munster held an impressive fifth overall from Katsuta, Rovanperä and Neuville.

Pajari’s great run ended with a mechanical retirement en route to stage six.

Oliver Solberg held a solid 53 second lead in WRC2 over Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

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