Elfyn Evans is still hell-bent on winning Rally Finland and spicing up the fight for the title of the WRC. Four stages separate the Welshman from his goal after closing the second stage of the event in the lead, with a 9.1-second lead over Ott Tänak. And it is that the Estonian has become the main pursuer of the Toyota driver, since Craig Breen has lost some of his steam in the five stages that have shaped Saturday’s afternoon loop. Thierry Neuville’s retirement allows Sébastien Ogier to place fifth. No changes in WRC2 and WRC3.
For a matter of sheer balance, Elfyn Evans was unable to continue her splendid morning loop. Nevertheless, the Welshman said only 0.6 seconds with Ott Tänak in SS11, first section of the afternoon. Beyond this point, the Estonian’s best time was beginning to write a trend of superiority over a duller Craig Breen. In fact, Tänak repeated as the fastest driver in the SS12, which earned him to assault second position against a Craig Breen that, without being far away, did not seem equally inspired by his Hyundai. In addition, the second pass through ‘Päijälä’ served to see Mads Ostberg in the ‘top 10’.
As there are not two without three, Ott Tänak also achieved the scratch in SS13 and was close to 7.7 seconds behind the leader., also opening a certain mattress on Craig Breen. Trend that was lived again in the SS14 in the direct duel between the Hyundai drivers, not so with respect to the leader. And is that Elfyn Evans reacted with the best time in SS14. The Toyota driver thus stopped the bleeding with respect to the strongest Hyundai Motorsport driver, structure that was also hit by the abandonment of Thierry Neuville. The Belgian stopped his car with a water leak that caused his withdrawal.
The last stage of the day served to sign tables, since Ott Tänak got the scratch, but with the same time as Elfyn Evans. Fueled by fifth place, Sébastien Ogier was among the fastest drivers on the stage by finishing third in SS15. With four stages to play, Evans and Tänak are separated by 9.1 seconds, while Craig Breen has been in no man’s land. The same situation is for Esapekka Lappi, since the Finn has a sufficient advantage over Sébastien Ogier. In another league, without any repercussions, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux are sixth and seventh with the Fords.
The three best ‘Rally2’ occupy the last three places of the ‘top 10’, with Teemu Suninen as the best exponent of the category as the leader of the WRC2 class. However, the Finn has seen his advantage over Mads Ostberg reduced to 8 seconds, although the duel is written tenth to tenth. Jari Huttunen closes the podium in the silver category, a result that is not worth him to be among the top ten in the rally. And it does not serve him because Emil Lindholm as leader of the WRC3 remains with this tenth position. The Finn has a comfortable advantage over Mikko Heikkila and Eerik Pietarinen in this third category.
Classification after SS15 of the 70th Rally Finland
Rally Finland ends this Sunday (07: 35h) with the celebration of the four sections of the third stage of the event. Drivers and co-drivers face a total of 45.74 kilometers during the day.