TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has all five cars filling the top five positions with one day remaining on home roads at Rally Finland, with local hero Kalle Rovanperä extending his lead.
Saturday was the longest day of the rally with 142.16 competitive kilometres to be tackled across two loops of four stages in the forests south-west of Jyväskylä. Weather conditions would remain mixed after the rainstorms that brought an end to Finland’s long hot and dry spell on Friday afternoon.
Rovanperä’s lead was just 4.9 seconds coming into the day but he was fastest in three of the morning’s four stages – racking up his 250th FIA World Rally Championship stage win in the process – and returned to Jyväskylä for mid-day service with an increased overall advantage of 14.7s.
His margin would grow to 36.1s in the afternoon after nearest pursuers, Hyundai drivers Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux, both slowed with loss of tyre pressure in SS16.
Rovanperä’s TGR-WRT team-mates would also benefit to gain two positions each. Takamoto Katsuta is up to second place, 6.8s in front of Sébastien Ogier, who took a stage win in heavy rain in SS15. Elfyn Evans is just 1.5s behind Ogier having been second quickest to Rovanperä across the day. Completing the top five is Sami Pajari, who was more cautious than his more experienced team-mates in SS15 but scored his third stage win of the weekend in SS16.
The GR Yaris Rally2 occupies the top two places in WRC2 with Roope Korhonen (Rautio Motorsport) leading Jari-Matti Latvala by 1.8s.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“We are of course very happy to be in this position tonight, with all our drivers inside the top five and within one minute of each other. It had been a good fight with our rivals until this afternoon; from my position as a former driver, I know it must feel a bit unfair what happened with two drivers potentially hitting the same stone. All our drivers are free to drive tomorrow. There are 10 extra points available, they’re feeling good and the cars are working well. So there’s no need for me to say anything, except for ‘go for it’! Ouninpohja is one of the nicest and fastest stages in the world and all the drivers like it. Even on the second pass, it will still be in good condition, so it will be a very enjoyable final day to drive and to watch.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a good day out there for us. It’s been a tight fight with our team-mates with not a lot to separate us on most of the stages. The conditions were tricky in the first stage of the afternoon with the rain, so I was happy to get through that, and otherwise it’s been a reasonably solid and fun day and we’re looking forward to tomorrow. Ouninpohja is a stage that needs a lot of concentration but we’ll just do the best we can and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“It’s been a super good day for us and the team. This afternoon the conditions were tricky in many places but we were able to control the pace quite well. The feeling in the car was a bit more comfortable and we could still do some good times without any big risks, which is always a good sign. It will be a tricky Sunday on such a demanding stage. Everybody will be pushing hard, and of course we want to secure the win, but we also need as many points as we can for the championship.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“I don’t feel that I did a fantastic job today; the pace was still missing a little bit. The car is quite OK to drive but I’m somehow lacking the little things which allow me to drive on the limit, and that’s been costing time on these extremely fast roads. I still have a little idea for tomorrow and hopefully it can be a good one. Tomorrow is all about Ouninpohja: the most beautiful stage of the season and the perfect showdown for the rally. It’s always fun to drive and I’m expecting it to be spectacular with everyone pushing for points.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“There were some up and downs today but at the end we came back in second place so I must be happy with that. I have mostly just been trying to manage the risk. It’s not been easy to find the balance between that approach and fighting against Seb and Elfyn, but it worked out well. Tomorrow with Super Sunday and the Power Stage, I think the decision will be easier: just go flat-out!”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I think it has been another quite solid day for us today. We had some really close fights with Seb especially in the morning. In the afternoon I was obviously a bit careful in the rain on the first one of the loop, and then we did the fastest time on the second one. So not too bad overall and I’m still enjoying it and learning too. Tomorrow the main aim is to finish but I would like to be quick as well. Ouninpohja is such a cool stage to drive, and if you are not fully on it you are kind of wasting it, so I hope to enjoy it.”
End of day three (Saturday):
1 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h01m28.8s
2 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +36.1s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +42.9s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +44.4s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +59.2s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m54.7s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m23.7s
8 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m28.3s
9 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m27.9s
10 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m38.7s
(Results as of 19:50 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What’s next?
A special Finnish finale awaits with the legendary Ouninpohja – one of the most famous rally stages in the world – to be run twice. Up to five Super Sunday points are available for the fastest drivers across the two passes, and another five for the Power Stage formed by the second run.
Follow us!
Follow TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT:
∇Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TOYOTAGAZOORacingWRC
∇X : https://www.x.com/TGR_WRC (@TGR_WRC)
∇Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/tgr_wrc/ (@TGR_WRC)
∇YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtALHup92q5xIFb7n9UXVg
';