MOTORSPORT NEWS Rally

Finland WRC: Meeke extends lead as battle for third tightens

Citroen’s Kris Meeke doubled his Rally Finland lead following the Saturday morning leg with Jari-Matti Latvala remaining as his sole challenger for the victory.Meeke was dominant in the opening 33km Ouninpohja stage, beating the field by 13 seconds – and the Briton continued to be in the top two for the next two runs.

Thierry Neuville
Thierry Neuville

Latvala ended up 36.4s adrift of the Briton with Thierry Neuville holding a close third.

Third and eighth was only separated by half a minute after Friday and the gap got even closer as the Saturday morning loop progressed.

Andreas Mikkelsen took over in third after SS13, only to lose time by going off in the next stage, handing the spot to Hayden Paddon.

Paddon kept third in the next test as well but fell behind Hyundai teammate Neuville in the following, final stage.

The duo is closely followed by Norwegian duo Mads Ostberg and Mikkelsen, with Ott Tanak just 12 seconds behind Neuville in seventh.

Tanak, whose first recovery from yesterday’s broken suspension was halted due to a puncture, was up to fourth after winning SS14, only to lose more time with another tyre failure.

Championship leader Sebastien Ogier’s poor run continued as he was handed a 2m10s penalty for arriving to a stage 13 minutes late due to a brake problem.

M-Sport’s Eric Camilli was another victim of the leg as he was forced to retire following a crash.

Craig Breen lost over two minutes as he had to stop behind the stationary car of the Frenchman but the Citroen driver is set to have his time amended later on.

UPDATE: Breen’s time has been corrected and now sits third overall.

 

Top fifteen overall after SS 16 ( Provisional)

Pos Car No Driver Co-driver Team Eligibility Group Class Time Diff Prev Diff 1st
1. 7 GBRK. Meeke IRLP. Nagle Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team RC1 1:47:56.3
2. 2 FINJ. Latvala FINM. Anttila Volkswagen Motorsport M RC1 1:48:32.7 +36.4 +36.4
3. 8 IRLC. Breen GBRS. Martin Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team RC1 1:49:19.0 +46.3 +1:22.7
4. 3 BELT. Neuville BELN. Gilsoul Hyundai Motorsport M RC1 1:49:31.7 +12.7 +1:35.4
5. 4 NZLH. Paddon NZLJ. Kennard Hyundai Motorsport M RC1 1:49:32.6 +0.9 +1:36.3
6. 5 NORM. Ostberg NORO. Floene M-Sport World Rally Team M RC1 1:49:39.5 +6.9 +1:43.2
7. 9 NORA. Mikkelsen NORA. Jaeger Volkswagen Motorsport II T RC1 1:49:42.3 +2.8 +1:46.0
8. 12 ESTO. Tänak ESTR. Molder DMACK World Rally Team T RC1 1:49:44.2 +1.9 +1:47.9
9. 35 FINE. Lappi FINJ. Ferm Škoda Motorsport WRC2 RC2 1:51:11.1 +1:26.9 +3:14.8
10. 20 NLDK. Abbring GBRS. Marshall Hyundai Motorsport N T RC1 1:51:28.0 +16.9 +3:31.7
11. 32 FINT. Suninen FINM. Markkula Team Oreca WRC2 RC2 1:51:53.7 +25.7 +3:57.4
12. 33 SWEP. Tidemand SWEJ. Andersson Škoda Motorsport WRC2 RC2 1:51:59.8 +6.1 +4:03.5
13. 39 ESTK. Kruuda ESTM. Jarveoja Drive DMACK Trophy Team WRC2 RC2 1:52:34.3 +34.5 +4:38.0
14. 31 GBRE. Evans GBRC. Parry M-Sport World Rally Team WRC2 RC2 1:53:15.8 +41.5 +5:19.5
15. 46 NORH. Solberg AUTI. Minor M-Sport World Rally Team WRC2 RC2 1:53:49.1 +33.3 +5:52.8

Story: Motorsport.com