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Sebastien Ogier may sit out Saturday’s second leg of Rally Finland following fitness concerns over co-driver Julien Ingrassia following the pair’s accident on Friday.

The WRC leader’s hopes of a fifth consecutive title suffered a blow when his Ford Fiesta smashed into trees in this morning’s Jukojärvi special stage after incurring suspension damage earlier in the test.

Although neither crew member was injured, a shaken Ingrassia later reported feeling unwell. A decision on whether they will continue under Rally 2 rules will be left until Saturday morning after Ingrassia has had the opportunity to recuperate overnight. 

“We just need to wait a bit because Julien got a bit shaken in the crash,” explained Ogier. “We’ve done all the tests at the hospital and there was nothing that came out of them, but still at the moment Julien is not feeling super good. 

“So I want to wait and give him the chance to decide. He is OK, nothing really special just a bit dizzy I think.”

If Ingrassia is unfit, it is likely the pair would restart from parc ferme before retiring again in service. That would allow them to rejoin on Sunday to chase vital bonus points in the live TV Power Stage and salvage something from the weekend.  

A heavy landing over one of Finland’s many jumps damaged Ogier’s rear suspension and affected his Fiesta’s handling. The crash happened later in the same stage.

“When I reached the corner, I just braked slightly late, not so much, but the combination of that and the broken damper meant I lost the rear. I had quite a big side impact with a tree and that was game over,” he explained.

source: wrc.com

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Finns have reigned supreme during the morning loop of Rally Finland stages and Jari-Matti Latvala heads a one-two for Toyota after a total of seven stages and 85 competitive kilometres.

The local hero is however in the thick of a fight with his young team-mate Esapekka Lappi after a dramatic string of stages that has seen Championship leader Sébastien Ogier retire, as well as Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon. 

Rally Finland got underway last night with the opening Harju street stage, where Ott Tänak set the early pace. Out in the forests today, however, Finns have claimed victory on each of the six stages to stake their claim on their home event. Latvala - who is chasing a fourth home win to equal the tally set by his Toyota team boss Tommi Mäkinen - has had a great morning although only set one fastest time on his way to a 1.6 second advantage at the mid-leg service.

Team-mate Lappi has once again been a sensation in only his fourth event in the Yaris WRC. After being too cautious in today’s opener, the youngster immediately upped the pace and four consecutive stage wins, despite a couple of small errors, now put him firmly in contention.

The closeness of competition at the head of the field earlier in the morning meant it was difficult for crews to make an impact, but as rain fell in the final stage of the loop Mads Østberg was able to capitalise and overhauled both Craig Breen and Teemu Suninen for the provisional third position. The Norwegian has struggled to find a good rhythm at times but heads a tight fight ahead of five of his rivals. 

Breen, who ran has high as third, dropped to fourth in the last stage. He had a heavy landing in SS4 that left him with a strange feeling at the front end of the C3 WRC but has nevertheless powered on and is just fourth tenths of a second behind Østberg and a mere one-tenth ahead of rising star Teemu Suninen.

In only his second event in the Fiesta WRC, Suninen is another sensation to have emerged from Finland and the WRC 2 Championship and with one stage win under his belt this morning is focused on continual improvement on the world stage. Juho Hänninen is sixth for Toyota after a reasonably uneventful morning, but he too remains in contention just under 20 seconds adrift of team-mate Latvala. Citroën C3 WRC returnee Kris Meeke is struggling to find a good set-up; the Northern Irish driver had a disrupted test due to bad weather and just cannot find the same groove that saw him claim a historic win on this event last year.

Elfyn Evans never got a pre-event test after Ogier crashed the team’s Fiesta, and the Welshman has battled understeer for most of the morning. He rounds off the top eight drivers who are split by 22.5 seconds.

Thierry Neuville, whose pre-event objective was to finish ahead of Championship rival Ogier, is potentially on track to do that, but the Belgian has not enjoyed a great start. He was second in last night’s street stage but dropped to 10th in this morning’s first stage, the handling of the Hyundai proving difficult throughout the morning.

However, with Ogier retiring after damaging the suspension, taking a wheel off and ending up in the trees, Neuville has been dealt a lucky strike and is now focused on climbing into the top five to slash the points deficit to the Championship leader.

Dani Sordo, in 10th, admitted to simply not being fast enough, and early leader Ott Tänak has dropped down the order to 11th. The Estonian maintained his lead going into stage four but ran wide and broke a wheel, dropping him over 90 seconds. Hayden Paddon was another victim of the morning while running in an impressive third overall, the Kiwi driver out with broken suspension after hitting a rock. 
    
The fight in the FIA WRC 2 Championship has seen three different drivers hold the advantage but after seven stages Jari Huttunen tops the category by 13.9 seconds. He heads Gus Greensmith and Pierre-Louis Loubet, the trio split by 15.1 seconds.

The Junior WRC Championship is again proving to be a close battle between Nicolas Ciamin and Dennis Radstrom. The rivals have taken two and four stage wins respectively in their Fiesta R2 machinery.

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Rookie Esapekka Lappi dominated Rally Finland to lead a WRC round for the first time on Friday night.

The Finn, making only his fourth World Rally Car start, headed Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate and fellow countryman Jari-Matti Latvala by 4.4sec after winning eight of today’s 12 speed tests. 

Home drivers bossed the leaderboard with fellow novice Teemu Suninen third in a Ford Fiesta, a further 14.6sec behind.

It was a disappointing day for title contenders Sébastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. Championship leader Ogier crashed this morning [below], while Neuville struggled for pace in eighth.

A cautious Lappi trailed 12th after this morning’s opening dirt road special stage but reeled off eight wins from nine special stages to overhaul Latvala and surprise himself.

“I couldn’t even imagine leading,” said the 26-year-old Toyota Yaris pilot. “It’s really something special and difficult to understand. Ever since I was a young boy I’ve dreamed of driving a World Rally Car in Finland. Now it’s happening and I’m leading. I’m speechless.”

Latvala led after Ott Tänak yielded the early initiative when he swiped some rocks and punctured his Fiesta’s right rear tyre. The Estonian lost more than 90sec to end 10th.

Suninen’s performance was almost as impressive as Lappi’s. In only his second drive in a World Rally Car, the 23-year-old won two tests during an epic 16-hour day in sunshine and heavy rain. 

Craig Breen, Juho Hänninen and Mads Østberg joined the battle for a podium place. Brake problems and handling issues delayed Breen’s Citroën C3 and the Irishman was fourth, 14.0sec behind Suninen. 

Hänninen provided more Finnish delight when he held fourth before hitting a rock and damaging the rear left suspension mounting on his Yaris. He was lucky to survive in fifth, 6.1sec behind Breen and 5.9sec ahead of Østberg. 

The Norwegian fell back from third when handling issues, blamed on either a damaged track control arm or broken driveshaft, relegated him to sixth.

Elfyn Evans battled an oversteering Fiesta in seventh ahead of Neuville and Kris Meeke, who fell back after bending his C3’s steering against a concrete chicane.

Ogier damaged his Fiesta’s rear suspension after a heavy landing over one of Finland’s many jumps and shortly after he crashed into trees when it failed altogether.  

His demise handed the initiative to Neuville in their title duel. But the Belgian was subdued and faces a massive battle to achieve his target of a top five finish. “Tomorrow is a huge day. We should be faster than this, but I couldn’t do more,” said the Hyundai i20 driver.

Today’s other major retirement was Hayden Paddon, the Kiwi breaking his i20’s suspension after clattering a rock.

Saturday packs in eight more gravel stages near Jämsä. They are split into two identical loops and include the classic rollercoaster Ouninpohja, regarded as the sport’s biggest test of bravery and commitment. It all adds up to 132.34km of action.

source: wrc.com

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The Briton, returning to the Citroën Abu Dhabi Total line-up after being dropped for the previous round in Poland, produced the perfect start at a rally in which he gained a landmark victory 12 months ago.

Meeke pipped Thierry Neuville by a tenth of a second in the 4.62km Ruuhimäki speed test in his C3. Hyundai i20 driver Neuville was 0.4sec clear of Ott Tänak, the trio all posting their best times in their fourth pass.

“I was a little bit hesitant in the first run because our test here was compromised a lot by really heavy rain showers and we struggled to get any consistent conditions to do any work,” said Meeke.

“We started this morning with different bits and pieces on the car which I had even never had on before. The first few runs were tentative, but we did a lot of changes. It was like a test session for us again and the feeling became more and more confident.”

Estonian Tänak was the pacesestter in the first run in his Ford Fiesta, before Dani Sordo moved to the front in the second pass in his i20. Home hero Jari-Matti Latvala lowered the benchmark further in his third and final run before Meeke laid down the final marker.

Latvala’s time in his Toyota Yaris was good enough for fourth, only six-tenths behind Meeke. Sordo and Craig Breen completed the top six, with a second covering the leading sextet.

Championship leader Sébastien Ogier matched Meeke’s time but his run was disallowed as the Frenchman missed a chicane.

It wasn’t a good morning for Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Juho Hänninen. The Finn smashed his Yaris into a chicane during his opening run and broke the cooling package in the engine (below).

His car returned to the Jyväskylä service park by trailer and he played no further part in shakedown as mechanics made repairs ahead of this evening’s start.

Leading times were:

 
POS DRIVER CAR TIMES
1. Kris Meeke Citroën C3 2min 14.3sec
2. Thierry Neuville Hyundai i20 + 0.1sec
3. Ott Tänak Ford Fiesta + 0.5sec
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota Yaris + 0.6sec
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai i20 + 0.9sec
6. Craig Breen Citroën C3 + 1.0sec
7= Mads Østberg Ford Fiesta + 1.3sec
7= Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 + 1.3sec
9. Sébastien Ogier Ford Fiesta + 1.5sec
10. Esapekka Lappi Toyota Yaris + 1.7sec
 

         

 

 

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