Sebastien Ogier (above) claimed a surprise WRC Rally Finland victory on Sunday after his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate, Kalle Rovanpera, rolled out on the eventโs penultimate stage while holding a commanding lead.
Rovanpera had led for almost every mile of the FIA World Rally Championshipโs fastest event and looked set to end Finlandโs seven-year wait for a home winner as he started the penultimate stage with a 45.8s advantage over Ogier. But it all went wrong when he clipped a rogue rock, pushing his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 off the line and into a rally-ending roll.
The two time and reigning champโs shock exit means his own quest for a first Rally Finland win goes on. The 23-year-old Jyvaskyla native, whoโs running only a part-time WRC schedule in 2024, finished second in 2022, but has now crashed out from the lead in the last two starts on his home high-speed gravel. ย
A stunned Kalle Rovanpera contemplates another home win slipping from his grasp — this one after a roll on the penultimate stage. Image courtesy of WRC Media
The same 8.87-mile Sahloinen-Moksi stage had already delivered drama when Rovanperaโs Toyota teammate, Elfyn Evans, also left the road while chasing down Super Sunday points to make up for a broken driveshaft that plummeted him down the order on Saturday.
On his first Rally Finland start since 2021, eight-time WRC champ Ogier was on hand to pick up the pieces after Rovanperaโs roll. The Frenchman, whoโs also running only part-time with Toyota this season, took his 61st WRC victory by 40.1s from Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver Thierry Neuville, with M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Adrien Fourmaux some 34.0s further back in the final podium spot.
“It’s hard to smile right now,” said Ogier, whose only other win on the event came with VW in 2013. “A win in Finland is always nice, but this is not the way we like to have it. Very sorry for Kalle and (co-driver) Jonne (Halttunen) — they were unlucky with the stone and it’s a shame for them. We were unlucky in Sardinia and lost in the last stage, but we are lucky here. Thatโs motorsport.”
It wasnโt the way Sebastien Ogier would have wanted to win Rally Finland, but it puts the WRC part-timer in the thick of the title battle. Toyota GAZOO Racing
The late drama has shaken up the WRC driversโ championship standings, with Ogier now up to second, despite missing three rallies earlier this year. After Friday retiree Ott Tanak (Hyundai) and Evans both scored zero points, the pair dropped to third and fourth respectively.
But it was Neuville who was the biggest winner in terms of the title race. Having arrived in Finland with an eight-point lead, the Belgianโs buffer now stands at 27 points, while his Hyundai Motorsport factory squad has extended its lead over Toyota Gazoo racing in the manufacturersโ championship to 20.
โIt was a real roller coaster of emotions this weekend,โ said Neuville. โWe had a clever approach this weekend knowing it was hard to fight with the Toyotas. After our teamโs issues (Tanak and third driver Esapekka Lappi both crashing on Friday), we knew we had to bring the points home.โ
Hyundaiโs Thierry Neuville couldnโt match the pace of the Toyotas, but still leaves Finland with his WRC title lead extended. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
Fourmauxโs third-place finish marked his fourth podium of the season. The Frenchmanโs Puma Rally1 was never withing catching distance of Neuville, but a well-judged drive left it 40.0s clear of Sami Pajariโs Toyota at the finish.
Pajari, along with co-driver Enni Malkonen, delivered an impressive drive on his first start in the headlining hybrid Rally1 class. After a rocky start to their home rally, which included two Friday morning spins resulting in rear wing damage, the Finnish pair claimed their first-ever WRC stage win on the Ruuhimaki test later that same day, then kept it clean and tidy to secure fourth overall.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg now sits 28 points clear at the top of the championship standings after the Skoda Fabia RS driver dominated the class on the fast Finnish gravel.
The 22-year-old Swede led from start to finish and secured his third WRC2 victory of the season by 39.0s over Finlandโs Jari-Matti Latvala, who was making a rare appearance in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 away from his regular duties as the Japanese marqueโs team principal.
Solberg and Latvala were relatively closely matched through Fridayโs opening leg on roads east of Jyvaskyla, but after Latvala shipped around 20s with a spin on Saturday afternoon, the Skoda man could afford to cruise through Sundayโs four-stage finale.
WRC2 drivers can nominate up to seven rallies for championship points, with the best six results counting to their end-of-season score. Solberg has now contested six rounds, while his closest title rivals, including Pajari (whoโll head back to WRC2 next time out, following his Rally1 one-off in Finland), and Citroen duo Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin, all have multiple events still to count.
After dominating WRC2 through the opening legs, Oliver Solberg was able to cruise to the class win on the final day. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
The WRC remains on gravel for next monthโs Acropolis Rally Greece, Sept. 5-8. But the Lamia-based event provides a different sort of challenge to the high-speed jumps and sweeps of Finland, with the rough, rock-strewn roads and high temperatures making the Greek classic something of an endurance test.
WRC Rally Finland, final positions after Leg Three, SS20
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h25m41.9s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +40.1s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m14.1s
4 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m54.5s
5 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS โ WRC2 leader) +8m15.5s
6 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hanninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 โ WRC2) +8m54.5s
7 Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi (Skoda Fabia RS โ WRC2) +9m29.4s
8 Mikko Heikkila/Kristian Temonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 โ WRC2) +9m32.0s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 โ WRC2, non-points) +9m51.2s
10 Georg Linnamae/James Morgan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 โ WRC2) +10m07.0s
WRC Driversโ Championship after 9 of 13 rounds
1 Neuville 168 points
2 Ogier 141
3 Ott Tanak 137
4 Elfyn Evans 132
5 Fourmaux 119
WRC Manufacturersโ Championship after 9 of 13 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 395 pointsย ย
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 375
3 M-Sport Ford 207
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