The last two specials of the Saturday morning lap at the Rally of Finland have drawn a really interesting general classification situation, with the first 4 enclosed in just 15 “5.
Kalle Rovanpera won in Special Stage 13, the Patajoki 1 of 13.75 kilometers. This has led him to increase his lead over teammate Elfyn Evans in the fight for third place, but also to get closer to the top two fighting for the win.
Esapekka Lappi, second in the standings, managed to reduce the gap that separated him from the leader of the overall standings of the event, Ott Tanak. The Estonian driver of Hyundai Motorsport, however, responded vehemently in the next test.
Tanak prevailed in SS14, the Vekkula 1 of 20.65 kilometers, thus bringing his margin against Lappi back to 9 “5. This is a gap that has never been so large since the event began, and this makes us understand how the former are running at very high levels.
If the fight for the first position seems to cool down – but not too much – the fight for the two positions on the podium behind Tanak has ignited. Lappi remained second, but now Kalle Rovanpera has shifted up a gear.
Today the World Championship leader no longer has the handicap of having to open all the special stages, as he was forced to do yesterday, and his pace has benefited a lot. In a few tests he has returned to 3 “4 from second place and still missing the whole afternoon lap to try to conquer the position of honor.
Elfyn Evans certainly did not leave the fight for second place, now fourth and 8 “4 behind Lappi. Evans is in fact the only non-Nordic driver to maintain the pace of the best thanks to the superiority of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and his good starting position.It’s good not to exclude him from the fight for the podium on a day also conditioned by bad weather, with the rain that made the bottom much more treacherous, causing puddles of water to appear and the high possibility of acquaplaning.
Much more detached all the others, starting with Thierry Neuville. The Belgian, after having gained 2 positions in the morning, can only try to keep the fifth position. Too far away from the top 4 to be able to think about reassembling.
The fight in WRC2 has suddenly reopened, with Emil Lindholm navigated by Reeta Hamalainen very unleashed. The Finn has recovered several seconds on Teemu Suninen – category leader – and is now 5 “7 behind him. To report the promising performance of the young Sami Pajari, third in WRC2 and 11th overall in the overall.
The Saturday morning lap at Rally Finland ends here. Now the drivers will be able to take advantage of the mid-day Service to prepare the cars for the afternoon lap which will start at 14:38 Italian time, when the first car will enter the special.
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