The French driver Sébastien Ogier, with his new co-driver Julien Ingrassia, has demonstrated his solidity on the fast gravel tracks of Finland Rally, finishing the morning in front after an intense first leg.
The pair, who had not competed together for five years, dominated the first half of the rally, winning three of the four morning specials and positioning themselves with an advantage of 5.3 seconds over Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux.
Ogier acknowledged that he had to take risks, stating: ‘There were many critical moments. We pushed hard in every stage.’ The winner of the Estonia Rally, Sami Pajari, settled into a comfortable third position, 8 seconds behind the leader, while Oliver Solberg climbed to fourth place after complications faced by several drivers.
The morning started with Ogier taking the lead already in the first stage of 18.16 km at Laukaa, where, despite a less-than-perfect start, he surpassed Fourmaux by 2.9 seconds and Esapekka Lappi, who tied for the second fastest time.
Pajari managed to be the quickest in the third stage, while an error by Thierry Neuville, who crashed into a rock changing the suspension of his i20 N Rally1, caused him to lose more than 1 minute and thirty seconds. This threw the continuity of the 2024 champion into doubt, although he ultimately managed to finish the course.
On the other hand, Lappi, who had started strong in fifth position, suffered an accident in the fourth stage which resulted in a roll-over, leaving his options virtually extinguished. Thus, Solberg took the opportunity to ascend to fourth place, with a time 11.8 seconds below the leader.
The current leader of the World Rally Championship standings, Elfyn Evans, ended the morning in fifth place, followed by Takamoto Katsuta, who experienced understeering and oversteering issues, arriving at service 27.4 seconds behind the leader.
The M-Sport-Ford driver, Mārtins Sesks, completed the Rally1 classification in seventh position, while Josh McErlean closed the group. His teammate Jon Armstrong was not so lucky, as his day ended when he hit his vehicle against a curb and had to stop competing.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
