Thierry Neuville has claimed an early Secto Rally Finland lead over Takamoto Katsuta after Thursday’s traditional run through the streets of Jyväskylä.
Rain has been forecast for rally week and dampened the road for the SS1 action, making the asphalt roads of Harju a particular challenge.
Neuville is recognized as a superspecial specialist and lived up to the billing by setting the pace by 1.1 seconds over the chasing pack.
“It’s a good start, but the real stuff starts tomorrow,” Neuville said.
Katsuta recorded a podium in Finland last year and has his sights set on something similar this year. He joked that local knowledge played a role in this park-based stage.
“Me and Kalle are local here, so we know every cut, every step,” Katsuta laughed. “I hope he does a good job and we both go flat out tomorrow.”
Kalle Rovanperä did a good job, but not as good as Katsuta who beat his world champion team-mate by 0.6s.
“That is fine to be honest,” Rovanperä said.
“This is always a tricky stage to start every year, it feels every year it’s narrower and narrower. When it’s damp like this I just want to get it out the way, so tomorrow the real fun starts.”
Rovanperä was fifth fastest, 0.3s down on Sébastien Ogier who has the same deficit to Katsuta overnight. Tänak in third was just a further tenth quicker than Ogier, 0.2s down on Katsuta.
Despite not competing in Finland since 2021, Ogier sounded confident for the weekend ahead.
“I think I always have a chance when I start a rally to be honest, so I believe in my chances and we’ll see what we can do,” he said.
Lappi struck a stack of tires with the right-rear of his i20 N Rally1 but fortunately didn't sustain damage
Esapekka Lappi, who was fastest on the shakedown stage earlier on Thursday, was on the ragged edge in his Hyundai, running wide at a square left up the hill and wiping out an advertising banner.
“I didn’t expect there to be some dirt so yeah, we ran wide and the exit was very poor,” Lappi explained, “but luckily I checked the exit on the recce that it’s empty.
“It was not on purpose but I was checking if I could try to attack on this corner, but it was stupid!”
The Finn was seventh fastest, 0.1s down on Adrien Fourmaux. Sami Pajari is ninth after his first competitive stage in a Rally1 car, 1.4s shy of Elfyn Evans but 3.6s clear of Grégoire Munster.
