Jari-Matti Latvala outpaced leader Sébastien Ogier on both Friday’s afternoon’s opening stages at Neste Oil Rally Finland to reduce the gap between the dueling team-mates to 3.3sec.Latvala won the second pass through Pihlajakoski by 0.7sec from his Volkswagen Polo R rival at a remarkable average of 133.26kph, before claiming back another 1.3sec in Päijälä as drizzle began to fall.
“I really had to focus and concentrate in Päijälä because I lost time there this morning, so I knew I had to perform well. There was a bit of dampness but it didn’t affect the grip, which was better this afternoon,” said Latvala.
Although he closed on Ogier, Latvala had only 3.9sec in hand over a rejuvenated Kris Meeke, who set a stunning fastest time in SS7. He was 3.0sec quicker than Latvala despite continuing to be affected by what he believes is a transmission issue in Citroën’s DS 3.
“Sometimes when you have a little issue, it focuses the mind. The car is wandering over the road, but I can talk to it in a straight line and in the corners it follows the ruts. It’s 99 per cent and I have to make the other one per cent,” said Meeke.
Hayden Paddon’s good run in fifth came to a violent end when the Kiwi crashed heavily 1km from the end of SS6. Both he and co-driver John Kennard, celebrating the 30th anniversary of his WRC debut, were unhurt.
After a trouble-filled morning, Robert Kubica retired his Ford Fiesta RS with an alternator problem at the mid-leg tyre zone. The Pole’s demise and Paddon’s crash promoted Dani Sordo to fifth, but he ended Päijälä with what could be a broken exhaust.
Team-mate Thierry Neuville climbed to sixth, but the Belgian continued to struggle with pace notes that were to slow for the roads.
Top fifteen overall after stage 7
| 1. | 1 |  S. OGIER |
J. INGRASSIA |
Volkswagen Motorsport | M | RC1 | 55:41.8 | ||
| 2. | 2 |  J. LATVALA |
M. ANTTILA |
Volkswagen Motorsport | M | RC1 | 55:45.1 | +3.3 | +3.3 |
| 3. | 3 |  K. MEEKE |
 P. NAGLE |
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT | M | RC1 | 55:49.0 | +3.9 | +7.2 |
| 4. | 4 |  M. OSTBERG |
 J. ANDERSSON |
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT | M | RC1 | 56:05.9 | +16.9 | +24.1 |
| 5. | 8 |  D. SORDO |
M. MARTI |
Hyundai Motorsport | M | RC1 | 57:08.2 | +1:02.3 | +1:26.4 |
| 6. | 7 |  T. NEUVILLE |
N. GILSOUL |
Hyundai Motorsport | M | RC1 | 57:11.4 | +3.2 | +1:29.6 |
| 7. | 15 | J. HANNINEN |
T. TUOMINEN |
Juho Hanninen | RC1 | 57:30.0 | +18.6 | +1:48.2 | |
| 8. | 21 |  M. PROKOP |
J. TOMANEK |
Jipocar Czech National Team | T | RC1 | 57:48.3 | +18.3 | +2:06.5 |
| 9. | 6 |  O. TANAK |
R. MOLDER |
M-Sport World Rally team | M | RC1 | 57:59.8 | +11.5 | +2:18.0 |
| 10. | 42 | E. LAPPI |
J. FERM |
Skoda Motorsport | WRC2 | RC2 | 58:10.5 | +10.7 | +2:28.7 |
| 11. | 40 | P. TIDEMAND |
E. AXELSSON |
Skoda Motorsport | WRC2 | RC2 | 59:03.9 | +53.4 | +3:22.1 |
| 12. | 38 | J. NIKARA |
K. LINDSTROM |
Drive DMACK | WRC2 | RC2 | 59:08.2 | +4.3 | +3:26.4 |
| 13. | 32 | S. LEFEBVRE |
S. PREVOT |
PH-Sport | WRC2 | RC2 | 59:27.8 | +19.6 | +3:46.0 |
| 14. | 37 |  L. BERTELLI |
L. GRANAI |
FWRT srl | T | RC1 | 59:35.1 | +7.3 | +3:53.3 |
| 15. | 39 |  Y. PROTASOV |
P. CHEREPIN |
Yurii Protasov | WRC2 | RC2 | 1:00:22.2 | +47.1 | +4:40.4 |