The Rally of Finland 2021 has probably defined its master. Elfyn Evans defeated Ott Tanak’s attacks in the previous test with losses and mortgaged the second success of the season.
The Toyota Racing driver won the 11.12 kilometer PS17 Ruuhimaki 1, significantly ahead of Estonian Hyundai Motorsport. Tanak took the second half, but 3 “5 behind his Welsh rival.
This brought Evans’ advantage to 12 “2 when there are 2 stages left at the end of the Finnish event. The test, more tortuous and full of slow corners than the previous ones, adapted quite well to the Toyota and Evans was good at taking advantage of it. .
Craig Breen set the third fastest time, more than 5 seconds behind Evans’ best time. Esapekka Lappi, on the other hand, took the fourth fastest time, being 9 tenths slower than the Northern Irishman who preceded him.
Sébastien Ogier limited himself to taking the test without taking any risks. The fifth time is the mirror of the 7-time world champion’s approach, who has nothing more to ask from this race if not in the Power Stage, where he will try to take other good points for the run-up to the eighth world champion.
WRC2 was in fact the mirror of the WRC, with Teemu Suninen probably mortgaging the victory. The Finn did 3 “6 better than his only rival, Mads Ostberg, bringing his lead to 9” 3. The Norwegian of Citroen Racing has been dealing with a problem with his C3 R5 since the first test today and Suninen has thus been able to put the seal on a success that would make morale after the farewell to M-Sport arrived a few weeks ago.
Rally of Finland – General classification after SS17
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Evans / Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2.08’36 “8 | |
2 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +12 “2 | |
3 | Breen / Nagle | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +31 “3 | |
4 | Lappi / Ferm | Toyota Yaris WRC | +54 “1 | |
5 | Ogier / Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | + 2’39 “5 | + 1’00 “ |
6 | Greensmith / Patterson | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 4’41 “9 | |
7 | Fourmaux / Coria | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 5’58 “8 | |
8 | Suninen / Markkula | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | + 9’06 “9 | |
9 | Ostberg / Eriksen | Citroen C3 Rally2 | + 9’16 “2 | |
10 | Lindholm / Hamalainen | Skoda Fabia R5 Evo | + 9’52 “9 |