Sébastien Ogier claimed an unlikely Secto Rally Finland win as both of his Toyota team-mates Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans crashed on the penultimate stage.
Rovanperä had been over 45 seconds clear after 18 of the 20 stages, seemingly on course for his first World Rally Championship victory on home soil.
But the world champion hit a rock in the line towards the end of SS19, and that sent him off and into the trees. Ogier was the beneficiary, inheriting a similarly healthy lead over Thierry Neuville to unexpectedly claim his second Rally Finland win of his career, on his first visit since 2021, by 40.1s.
“It’s hard to really smile right now,” Ogier said. “Of course a win in Finland is always nice but that’s not the way we want to have it.
“Really sorry for Kalle and Jonne they had amazing pace all weekend. For us we lost the win in Sardinia with bad luck, today we get one a bit lucky. That’s motorsport.”
Second place for Neuville, coupled to non-scores for both of his title rivals Evans and Ott Tänak, made this a hugely successful weekend championship-wise, even if he spent much of the rally unhappy with the behavior of his Hyundai.
Tänak crashed out of SS3 and was unable to restart and therefore salvage any points from Sunday, while Evans was running second but failed to score on Saturday after a front driveshaft broke. He returned on the final day and was second in the Super Sunday standings but crashed on the first corner of the penultimate stage when the rear snapped, sent him wide and across the road into a tree.
All of that means despite missing three rounds, Ogier is now Neuville’s closest championship challenger, 27 points behind the Belgian with Tänak and Evans 31 and 36 points adrift respectively.
Toyota had looked poised to overhaul Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship, but instead its deficit ballooned from one to 20 points.
“To be honest it has been a real rollercoaster of emotions this weekend – not only the stages felt like a rollercoaster,” Neuville said.
“It’s been challenging but I think we had a clever approach. I just want to thank the team for a reliable car, that’s really important and I hope everybody can have at least a little bit of holiday, recharge the batteries as the next events are going to be tough.”
Adrien Fourmaux secured a fourth WRC podium of his career in third, keeping his nose clean amidst all the drama to see off Rally1 debutant Sami Pajari.
The young Finn’s weekend was beset by a spin and then a wild moment that cost him his rear wing on Friday’s first stage, but he bounced back impeccably with a stage win on just his ninth-ever test in a top-class car.
Fourth place was his reward, on a weekend where Esapekka Lappi (clipped a tree and broke suspension), Takamoto Katsuta (same as Lappi) and Grégoire Munster (rolled) all reached for super-rally.
The drama in the Rally1 class allowed the Rally2 cars to infiltrate six of the top-10 positions, with Oliver Solberg winning the WRC2 class at a relative canter in his Škoda. That win stood at 39 seconds over Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala, with Lauri Joona completing the WRC2 podium.
“It means a lot to get the congratulations from Jari, it’s been a great fight and it’s cool to drive against him like he did my father,” Solberg said. “It’s been a long weekend, but fantastic to have another win.”
Latvala added: “It’s been a bit sad day for Toyota I have to say, but it’s motorsport and it’s hard sometimes you have to accept that.
“At the same time, a little bit controversial but the feeling is really great. Top-five was the target, we got second and sixth overall, last year we were fifth [in Rally1]. So maybe I can drive more, I need to ask my boss if I can get more drives.”
Mikko Heikkilä (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), Nikolay Gryazin (Citroën C3 Rally2) and Georg Linnamäe (Toyota Rally2) completed the top 10.
