Two time world champion Kalle Rövanpera leads the way after over 100 competitive stage kilometres at Rally Finland. The Finn was level with Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta after SS2 Laukaa, however on stage 3 Kalle was fastest of anybody by 1.9 seconds. The Finn took 4 stage wins today and now leads by 4.9 seconds over World Champion Thierry Neuville. Despite only taking 1 stage win the Belgian’s consistency has been amazing. 2.8 further back is Adrien Fourmaux who has had a similar day to Neuville taking only 1 stage win but always being up at the sharp end. Katsuta is only 4 tenths back from Fourmaux who said he “wasn’t happy with a few moments this afternoon” however he is optimistic for tomorrow.

5th is Sami Pajari who had a great day just 1 year on since his Rally1 debut at last years event. The Finn lost 4 seconds on the final Harju super special stage leaving him with some work to do tomorrow. 6th is a returning Sebastian Ogier, 7th was Elfyn Evans who is second in the championship and 8th Martins Sesks who is 40.5 seconds off the lead. 9th was Josh McErlean who was satisfied with his day. 10th was a disappointing outcome for Ott Tanäk who had a off on Stage 8 when he put his Hyundai into a tree. He finished the day a minute and 7 seconds off the lead. Greg Munster is 11th after A spin on stage 4 cost the Luxembourger time.

Written by Tony Griffin ‘Bear’