The home hero’s Volkswagen team-mate Sébastien Ogier was in second place starting Friday’s opening test, but lost time running at the head of the field to the extent he was unable to fend off the advancing Kris Meeke. The Briton occupies the provisional runner-up spot for Citroën after he clocked his first stage best in Finland.
Covering a total of 134.47 timed kilometres Friday’s itinerary was the longest of the four-day competition. With Ogier opening the road throughout the leg, Latvala was determined to press home his slight advantage in the warm and dry conditions. He began day two with a brace of fastest times and pulled further clear in the afternoon thanks to a succession of rapid runs, much to the delight of the Finnish fans who have flocked to the spectacular stages in great number.
”I just tried to follow the line and the car followed it really well,” said Latvala, whose only moment of real concern occurred on stage five when he briefly went off the road through a ditch. ”For sure I’ve been pushing really hard, I took some risks but I can’t take those risks in every stage. I’ve been driving aggressively and it’s worked.”
Meeke, meanwhile, described his performance this morning as ”99 per cent perfect” due to a ”couple of slides”, but he drove without fault in the afternoon to demote world champion Ogier to third. ”We still have a job to do but it’s been another excellent day,” said Meeke, who will start day two 1.6s ahead of Ogier, the winner of this evening’s Harju street stage.
Ogier is now targeting a fight back on day three when the reverse seeding rule means that he will no longer have to open the road for his rivals behind. ”It’s been a frustrating afternoon but I’m happy I’ve finished the sweeping now,” he said.
Andreas Mikkelsen occupies fourth spot having fought his way up from sixth in the third factory Polo. Mads Østberg produced an upturn in pace having struggled with set-up issues on Thursday. He’s fifth overnight, one place ahead of Mikko Hirvonen, who lost time when he spun his M-Sport Ford Fiesta on stage 10. Hayden Paddon is seventh with Elfyn Evans increasing in confidence in eighth. Juho Hänninen is ninth, Craig Breen 10th and Finland’s WRC2 pacesetter Jari Ketomaa 11th.
Hänninen started day two in style with the second fastest time on stage five, just 0.4.s slower than winner Latvala. The performance moved him back ahead of Hirvonen into fourth only for the Finn to roll his Hyundai into a ditch nearing the finish of stage six having completed much of the run with a slow puncture. The damage was largely cosmetic although power steering woes this afternoon hampered his recovery.
Thierry Neuville completed Friday’s first loop with a broken rear spoiler and a big dent in the boot of his Hyundai after the Belgian slid wide into a rock in a slippery section on stage five. While Neuville struggled through the subsequent runs with a lack of rear downforce, worse was to come at midday service in Jyväskylä when technical checks revealed the car’s safety cage was damaged beyond immediate repair, forcing him to retire.
Ex-Formula One racer Robert Kubica stopped 1.6 kilometres from the start of stage five when he went off the road and removed his Fiesta’s front-left wheel. He will restart on Saturday following repairs. Martin Prokop went off the road on stage 11, while a spate of punctures slowed Henning Solberg.
Jari Ketomaa remains on course for a home win in WRC2. After 13 stages, the Finn’s lead over Estonian Karl Kruuda is up to 42.0s despite a snapped roll bar triggering a bout of understeer on stage nine. Kruuda repaired an oil leak after stage 10 but there was despair for Eyvind Brynildsen when a broken propshaft dropped him out of third.
Prior to Harju, Martin Koči’s lead in WRC3 was more than two minutes ahead of Simone Tempestini. Rising Finnish star Teemu Suninen slipped from third to fourth with a puncture this morning but posted a number of fastest times since then. Tom Cave was leading the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy on 12 stages after day one pacesetter Max Vatanen dropped back.
Legend returns to Neste Oil Rally Finland in a Toyota
Tommi Mäkinen, the four-time world champion who was unbeaten on Rally Finland between 1994-1998, turned high-speed chauffeur earlier today when he drove Akio Toyoda, the Toyota Motor Corporation President and CEO, through a section of the Kakaristo stage prior to the competitive action getting underway earlier. Mäkinen was driving a four-wheel-drive Toyota GT86 built by his TMR team at Toyoda’s behest. ”It was 11 years ago I drove here last and I had such nice memories,” Mäkinen said. ”I enjoyed it. There was good grip and I’m sure Mr Toyoda enjoyed it a lot.”
Stage winners (Friday)
SS5, Pihlajakoski 1 (14.51): Latvala/Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS6, Päijälä 1 (23.38): Latvala/Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS7, Kakaristo 1 (20.51): Meeke/Nagle (Citroën DS3 WRC)
SS8, Painaa 1 (7.70): Ogier/Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS9, Pihlajakoski 2 (14.51): Ogier/Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS10, Päijälä 2 (23.38): Latvala/Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS11, Kakaristo 2 (20.51): Latvala/Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS12, Painaa 2 (7.70): Latvala/Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
SS13, Harju 2 (2.27): Ogier/Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)
Day two in numbers
250: Latvala’s fastest time on SS6 was Volkswagen’s 250th in the WRC
1: Meeke’s stage best in Kakaristo marked his first stage win in Finland
134.47: Timed kilometres covered on day two, the longest of the rally
5: WRC3 stage wins recorded by Finland’s WRC rookie Teemu Suninen prior to SS13
1: Fastest WRC2 times not clocked by Ott Tänak (a puncture prevented a clean sweep of stage wins for the Estonian)
What’s coming up on day three?
The 13.84 kilometres of Mökkiperä is first up on Saturday from 08:08 local time, albeit run in an opposite direction to 2013. Then it’s on to Jukojärvi before a trio of shorter stages: Surkee, Himos and Leustu. All five stages are repeated in the afternoon following one of nine service halts in the grounds of the Paviljonki conference and exhibition centre in Jyväskylä. End-of-day service begins at 21:06.
