Ott Tänak trimmed Elfyn Evans’ Rally Sweden to just 0.2s by winning the second stage of the event.
On a Finnskog stage that mixed areas of reasonable snow and ice with sections where more gravel was showing through, Hyundai driver Tänak outpaced Evans by 0.9s to cut the 1.1s advantage the Toyota had established on the opener.
Kalle Rovanperä cemented his current third place overall with the third fastest stage on the stage and remains within 5.3s of the outright lead.
Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier appeared to find the going tougher while running first and second on the road this time, having to sweep snow away in the areas where more was present.
Ogier held onto fourth place but Neuville dropped to sixth behind Esapekka Lappi in the leading M-Sport Ford.
Craig Breen jumped ahead of Teemu Sunine into seventh place overall.
Jari-Matti Latvala’s first rally back in the championship hit a snag as he spun his privately-entered Toyota.
That left him 50s off the pace and dropped him behind Takamoto Katsuta to 10th overall.
