Home hero Rovanpera leads super-fast WRC Rally Finland Friday

Kalle Rovanpera made a major breakthrough at Rally Finland on Friday, leading a gravel round of the FIA World Rally Championship in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 for the first time this season.

The 24-year-old Finn (above) completed the opening day of his home event with a 4.9s advantage over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, with just 15.7s separating the top-five crews after nine special stages and 71 miles of action on the super-fast forest roads of central Finland.

Rovanpera, who won back-to-back WRC titles in 2022-23, but has never claimed victory at his home rally, had struggled to match front-running pace on gravel as the series switched from Pirelli to Hankook rubber this year. But the local hero appears to have found his breakthrough on this ninth of 14 rounds, moving into the lead after the second stage and setting fastest times on three of the day's stages.

Despite his pace, Rovanpera acknowledged he wasn't always entirely comfortable in his GR Yaris, especially during the afternoon's second pass through more rutted stages, which was further complicated by intermittent patchy rain.

"The setup that we have does not work in the ruts, so that was scary," he said after the afternoon’s second stage. "I was all over the place. Time-wise it worked, but I almost went off once."

Reflecting on his fast Friday overall, he added: "It was a nice day, but not easy by any means. I am not really in my comfort zone at the moment, but we are pushing hard. Let's see if we can get a better feeling for tomorrow.”

Neuville held second at the overnight halt, despite admitting the stages weren't to his liking.

“All flat-out and just taking risks – not at all what I like," said the reigning WRC champ, who ran third in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 for much of the morning before dropping to fifth behind teammate Adrien Fourmaux and the Toyotas of Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari ahead of the mid-leg service.

A series of top-three times – achieved despite a cracked windscreen – lifted Neuville back to the runner-up spot, with Fourmaux just 2.8s further back in third after a consistent performance that included a joint stage win with Rovanpera on the afternoon’s third test, the nine-mile Myhinpaa 2.

Thierry Neuville wasn’t a fan of the flat-out stages, but the reigning WRC champ still took his Hyundai i20 N Rally 1 to second overnight. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Katsuta was just four-tenths of a second further back and celebrated his 50th WRC stage win during Friday's action. He held off Finnish rising star Pajari, who secured two fastest times of his own, by 7.6s, with eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier rounding out the top six just 1.9s further adrift.

Ogier, who won last year’s event after a late retirement for Rovanpera, felt slightly hampered by road conditions from his starting position of third. A brief stall on Saarikas 2 in the afternoon cost the Toyota driver valuable seconds, although he noted that grip levels had improved on the second pass.

Similar road conditions had affected Ogier's Toyota Gazoo racing teammate Elfyn Evans, who ended the day 8.4s behind the Frenchman to make it five of the locally-built and based factory GR Yaris Rally1s in the top seven.

Long-time WRC points leader Evans had lost the top spot in the standings by a single point to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak at the previous round in Estonia, but fared better than his title rival today. Tanak was starting first on the road and acting as “road sweeper” for the cars behind, but things got worse when he dropped to 10th overall after an impact with a tree on Saarikas 2 left him nursing damage for the day’s three remaining stages.

M-Sport Ford drivers filled eighth, ninth and 11th positions in their Puma Rally1s, with part-time entry Martins Sesks leading the intra-team battle ahead of full-season drivers Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster.

Martins Sesks was best of the M-Sport Ford drivers in eighth, albeit 40.5s back from the overall lead.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Finland’s Roope Korhonen held off one of the tightest fields in recent memory to complete the day 3.8s clear of Robert Virves.

The intermittent rain showers created chaotic conditions throughout the day, with five different WRC2 leaders as drivers gambled on when the downpours would strike. The lottery-like conditions ultimately favored Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver Korhonen, who navigated the tricky weather to edge ahead.

Estonian Virves found himself locked in another tight battle with compatriot Georg Linnamae, revisiting their duel from less than a fortnight ago at Rally Estonia. Just as at that event, Virves’ Toyota again led Linnamae’s Skoda Fabia Rs, albeit by the slenderest of margins with only 1.5s separating the pair overnight.

Jari-Matti Latvala had dominated large portions of Friday before the weather intervened. The 18-time WRC event winner, who was taking time off from his Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal duties to make his 20th Rally Finland start, was caught out by heavy rain on Saarikas 2. He lost more than 20s and dropped from the lead to fourth, 11.1s behind Korhonen. But with no championship to worry about, will we see a Latvala charge tomorrow on stages he knows so well?

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala got back behind the wheel to lead WRC2 after Friday’s morning stages, but dropped to fourth in the afternoon. Toyota Gazoo Racing photo

Saturday presents the rally's longest day, with double runs through classic stages including Parkkala, Vastila, Paijala and Leustu adding up to 88.3 miles of high-speed action.

WRC Rally Finland, positions after Friday/Leg 1, SS10
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +56m31.6s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4.9s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7.7s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +8.1s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +15.7s
6 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +17.6s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +26.0s
8 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +40.5s
9 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m06.0s
10 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m07.2s
11 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m19.4s
12 Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +2m46.1s

• Watch the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage action from Rally Finland LIVE on RACER Network and the RACER+ App on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 6:00-7:30am ET, with same-day re-airings on the RACER Network at 8:30pm ET and 11:30pm ET. 

• Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. Catch the latest episode on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 5:30am ET, 8:00pm ET and 11:00pm ET. 

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