Kalle Rovanpera has opened up a commanding lead after dominating Saturday’s Rally Finland stages to close in on a maiden World Rally Championship victory on home soil.
Toyota’s two-time world champion delivered a stunning drive in changeable conditions to win five of the day’s six stages, including two victorious passes of the returning Ouninpohja test.
The performance increased his overnight 8.0s lead to a 44.2s advantage and secures the Finn 18 provisional championship points. Team-mate and fellow part-time driver Sebastien Ogier trailed Rovanpera, as the Frenchman picked up 15 points.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville will score 13 points after rounding out the top three [+ 1m23.8s] ahead of M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux [+1m49.7s] who takes 10 points, while Toyota’s Rally1 debutant Sami Pajari [+2m19.2s] will earn 8 points.
The top eight was completed by leading WRC2 runners Oliver Solberg [+7m32.4s] and Jari-Matti Latvala [+8m20.s] in a one-off outing for the Toyota team boss.
The possibility of Toyota using team orders to help its title contender Elfyn Evans was rendered moot by a 16-minute delay leaving service as the Welshman's mechanics worked to repair his failed driveshaft.
This had already demoted Evans to from second to eighth, but a 2m40s penalty for the delay leaving service dropped him outside the points to 16th overall after reaching the end of Stage 14 [Vastila, 18.94km].
The rain returned for the afternoon stages, creating incredibly slippery conditions for some of the fastest and most demanding roads of the season.
But despite a rain shower interrupting his run, there was no stopping Rovanpera as the Finn claimed the test by 6.7s from Ogier.
“I don’t know what the others are doing there, because the rain once again came for us,” said a stunned Rovanpera, who extended his lead to 28.6s. “It was a good stage.”
Ogier admitted his effort was “very safe”, stating that it would be silly to push given the gaps between the drivers on the leaderboard.
Neuville was 0.8s slower than Ogier, but he felt there had been no improvement in his car’s handling after trying different springs to find a solution to his morning struggles.
Fourmaux felt the midday service had improved his Ford Puma, although it wasn’t reflected on the timing screen.
Standing water increased the level of difficulty as the crews faced challenging conditions heading into Stage 15 [Paijala, 20.19km].
Rovanpera’s stage-winning run came to an end, as Esapekka Lappi splashed his way to a fastest time following a committed run on the slippery road. Having restarted the rally following his Friday retirement, the Hyundai driver took the test by 0.5s from Rovanpera, who still extended his rally lead to 39.4s over Ogier.
The 2013 Finland winner once again opted for a cautious approach, stating that he couldn’t drive any “slower” and still had a moment in the test.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta was among a group of drivers to suffer wild moments but the Japanese, who was first into the stage after his Friday retirement, managed to reach the end unscathed.
Evans was able to post the fourth fastest time, as he continued his recovery by climbing to 14th overall.
But Lappi was unable to continue his stage-winning form on the Ouninpohja test, where lightning struck twice as the Finn suffered a second front-right puncture just a matter of hours after the first. This time, his front-right appeared to suffer a sudden delamination.
The second pass of Ouninpohja was run in much drier conditions, which produced much quicker times compared to the morning run.
Top of the timesheets was Rovanpera, who ended the day in style with a push to win the stage by 4.8s from Ogier at an average speed of 136km/h.
Sunday’s final leg of the rally will comprise four stages, covering 41.66 kilometres.
