Once again on this day the drivers had to deal with the rain, which made the Rally Finland surface even more treacherous. The first two drivers to enter the test fared best, with Elfyn Evans who achieved the best overall time in the 15.51-kilometer Myhinpaa 1.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver stopped the clock at 6’54″4, beating the leader of the World Championship Thierry Neuville by 8 tenths of a second. The first two drivers to enter the special were able to take advantage of a drier second part of the test compared to many others who followed them.
Only Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera, third and fourth respectively on the special, had the same conditions as the first two. The 8-time world champion stopped 1″2 from Evans, in third place, while the reigning world champion did 8 tenths worse than the Frenchman, finishing 2 seconds clear from the top.
In short, another stage in which the Toyotas showed their muscles, with only Neuville to be among the three that almost always fight for the victory. Esapekka Lappi stopped in fifth place, slower by only 3 tenths compared to Rovanpera. His performance was important, because the Finn of Hyundai Motorsport had to face a downpour in the middle of the special.
Takamoto Katsuta was in more difficulty, sixth at 3″4 from the top and ahead of only the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrids. Adrien Fourmaux seemed to be in less difficulty than in the first two tests today, but had to settle for seventh place at 4″4. Gregoire Munster did much worse, eighth at 21″3.
In this special stage, very fast in some sections, Sami Pajari had to pay a high price for no longer having the aerodynamic load guaranteed by the rear wing after having already lost it in PS2, the first stage of today.
The result of this special brings Elfyn Evans to the top of the overall standings of the event with a 1″2 advantage over Kalle Rovanpera and 2″4 over Sébastien Ogier. Gregoire Munster, on the other hand, climbed to eighth place after overtaking Sami Pajari.
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