At the end of Friday morning, Kalle Rovanpera tops the overall classification on his home event with Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville following him.
Kalle Rovanpera is the new rally leader in Finland, as he was the fastest driver on the last three stages of Friday morning. The rain in SS5 and his starting first on the road did not affect his performance and managed to build a less than four seconds lead over his teammate Elfyn Evans who is second overall.
Thierry Neuville completes the top three and said at the end of Stage 4 that the rear grip was very low hinting that they had to work on that.
Takamoto Katsuta climbed to fourth overall after Lappi's retirement and set the fastest time on the opening stage of the day.
Teemu Suninen is in fifth place overall and is the second best driver of Hyundai after what happened to his teammate in Stage 5. In addition to that, he was very lucky on the final stage of Friday morning as he ran wide on a right-hander and the rear of his i20N was teetering over a ditch.
Jari-Matti Latvala follows his compatriot for 24,9 seconds and is still trying to adapt to the hybrid Yaris.
Ott Tanak had to pull off the Stage 3 to make an exit via an access road as the engine of his Puma died and there was a noise followed by some smoke coming from the engine bay. He had to switch to EV mode after 6,1 Km into SS3 and eventually he retired for the rest of the day while this is the second event in a row that M-Sport Ford faces problems with the engine. The Estonian was leading Rally Finland after Stage 1, but he dropped third overall at the end of Stage 2 as he could not match the time of his rivals.
Pierre-Louis Loubet was forced to retire at the same stage as his teammate after sliding wide and hitting a rock. The rear left suspension of his Puma was broken after this impact and had to stop 1,7 Km into SS3.
Esapekka Lappi was in fourth overall, just three seconds behind Neuville at the end of Stage 4, but he went off the road in Stage 5 and could not continue for the rest of the day. His i20N was heavily damaged on the front as he hit a tree 3,5 Km into the stage. He and Janne Ferm are okay.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch the overall classification after the end of SS5:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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