Rally Finland restarted this morning with Special Stage 2, the 17.96-kilometre Laukaa 1, and did so under the banner of Toyota.
Elfyn Evans won the first special stage of the morning, the second of the ninth round of the 2024 WRC, stopping the clock in 8’35″4 in the rain, which made the surface of the special difficult, treacherous and full of surprises.
The Welshman was four tenths of a second ahead of his team-mates, eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, who, thanks to yesterday’s time on SS1, became the new leader of the event.
As mentioned, the GR Yaris Rally1 dominated this first Friday test: a poker showing all their strength on these dirt tracks, also made different in their response and unpredictability by the rain. Kalle Rovanpera finished in third place, 1″1 behind, and Takamoto Katsuta completed the porker, finishing 2″5 behind Evans’ time.
In wet conditions the Yaris proved to be exceptional, with the first Hyundai, that of Thierry Neuville, finishing in fifth place, 4 seconds behind Evans. The leader of the World Championship, thanks to the rain, paid much less in terms of gap to the drivers who followed him in the special.
It is no coincidence that he managed to leave behind 5 other cars, with the first of these being the i20 N Rally1 of teammate Esapekka Lappi, followed by the twin of Ott Tanak. Both Neuville and the Finn and the Estonian complained about a lack of grip and pronounced understeer from their respective cars.
The Ford Puma Rally1s did not get off to a good start, with Adrien Fourmaux fifth but 11.7 seconds behind Evans and Gregoire Munster who went long under braking during a left-hand bend. The Dutchman managed to avoid impacts with the trees, but stalled the engine of his Puma, losing several seconds.
Things went worse for Sami Pajari. The young Finn, who is making his debut at the wheel of a hybrid Rally1 this weekend, crashed into a tree on the final part of the stage, ruining his rear bumper and, more importantly, breaking his wing. A serious problem for Pajari, who will have to face three more stages without the main source of downforce in the rear of his GR Yaris Rally1.
The new general classification now sees Sébastien Ogier in the lead with a 1 second advantage over Kalle Rovanpera, 1″4 over Elfyn Evans and 1″8 over Takamoto Katsuta. A Toyota poker chased by the leader of the World Championship Thierry Neuville at 2″2, but it will be very difficult for the Belgian to maintain his position during the day.
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