Latvala takes lead in Neste Rally Finland

Jari-Matti Latvala claimed the lead of an incredibly tense Neste Rally Finland on Friday afternoon in which three drivers tied for second-just six-tenths behind, said a bulletin from the WRC.

The Finn won the repeated Moksi speed test to demote Toyota Yaris team-mate Ott Tänak to second by 0.4sec, with Kris Meeke and Esapekka Lappi chasing hard less than two seconds adrift.

Remarkably the situation became even closer after the following Urria test. Third fastest time enabled Latvala to eke his advantage out to 0.6sec, but Tänak, Meeke and Lappi could not be separated behind.

“Ott has the most difficult job now because the ruts are narrow and he’s opening the road. We had a good run in Urria, but I know where we were losing a bit of time. The ruts were quite big at the beginning and I was fighting with the car too much,” explained Latvala.

Tänak felt the conditions were more difficult than this morning from his position as first in the start order, while Lappi rued a botched gearchange in his Citroën C3 in the final junction of Urria.

Perhaps the happiest of the quartet was Meeke, the Briton starting his 100th WRC round. “That was enjoyable, in the best car on the best roads. If I had to turn left now and go home I’d be happy. The pleasure of driving on these roads is unbelievable,” he said.

Craig Breen was best of the rest in fifth, 10.3sec off the lead in his Hyundai i20. The Irishman was slowed in Moksi when a damaged clip allowed his car’s bonnet to come loose and obscure his view.

Fastest time for Andreas Mikkelsen in Urria promoted the Norwegian into sixth in his i20. He had 1.5sec in hand over Sébastien Ogier, whose fire extinguisher went off inside his C3 in the previous test.