Ott Tänak has extended his lease at the helm of Rally Estonia on an Esapekka Lappi who is not making things easy for him and closes the morning loop on Friday with a lead of 6.2 seconds over the local rider. Elfyn Evans completes the podium after the dispute of the three sections that put an end to the loopbut they have finally ended up being two due to the cancellation of SS5 due to the poor placement of some spectators. Teemu Suninen also maintains his lead in WRC2although in this case with Emil Lindholm as the new pursuer.
The second pass through ‘Laukaa’ It has been the best mirror in which to look at the development of the start of the test. Ott Tänak got the scratch and Esapekka Lappi stayed 0.4 seconds behind the Estonian. Nobody has lapped so fast, although the differences are minimal and the seven best drivers in the classification have also been the seven fastest drivers on the stage. In fact, the distance between this group of seven crews was limited to 25.7 secondssince Thierry Neuville overtook Pierre-Louis Loubet after a small scare from the Frenchman.
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The duel of Tänak and Lappi should have continued in the 21.69 kilometers of SS5, but the organization showed the red flag before the start of the stage and finally canceled his dispute for security reasons. Although there have been no live images, apparently several groups of spectators were poorly placed, in dangerous areas and too close to the road itself. Luckily, the SS6 Yes, it has been possible to dispute normally and Takamoto Katsuta has broken away from the leaders with a brilliant scratch after beating Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville by one tenth.
Okay it was the second super special of ‘Harju’, but the Japanese driver has overtaken the leader of the rally. In addition, Jari Huttunen has signed the fourth fastest time. With the results of this second pass through the urban section of ‘Harju’, Ott Tänak closes the morning with a lead of 6.2 seconds over Esapekka Lappi, while Elfyn Evans is third, 11.1 seconds behind the leader. Craig Breen maintains fourth position ahead of Kalle Rovanperä, scratch scorer Takamoto Katsuta and Thierry Neuville. The ‘top 10’ is closed by the M-Sport trio formed by Pierre-Louis Loubet, Jari-Huttunen and Gus Greensmith.
With regard to the rest of the categories that shape the WRC and this Rally of Finland, Finn Teemu Suninen has extended his rent in WRC2, although it is also true that the most direct rival has changed. In fact, Emil Lindholm has placed second, 9.2 seconds behind his compatriot after achieving the scratch in ‘Harju’. Mikko Heikkilä completes the totally Finnish podium, although a brilliant Sami Pajari is not far from assaulting third place. For its part, Lauri Joona has consolidated his leadership in WRC3 Open.
Qualifying after SS6 of the 71st Rally Finland
Rally Finland continues this afternoon (4:00 p.m.) with the dispute over the last four stages on Friday. Pilots and co-pilots will dispute 56.02 kilometers against the clock.
Photos: hyundai motorsport