Kalle Rovanpera led a Toyota 1-2-3-4-5 in FIA WRC Rally Finland, as Takamoto Katsuta and Sebastien Ogier rounded the Top 3.
Friday:
Kalle Rovanperä made a major breakthrough at Secto Rally Finland on Friday, leading a gravel round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for the first time this season. The Finn completed the opening day of his home event with a 4.9sec advantage over Thierry Neuville, with just 15.7sec separating the top five crews after almost 115 kilometres of action on flat-out forest roads in central Finland.
Rovanperä, who won back-to-back world titles in 2022 and 2023 but has never claimed victory at his home rally, had struggled to match the frontrunning pace on gravel this year. But the 24-year-old appears to have found his breakthrough at this ninth round, moving into the lead after the second stage and setting fastest times on four of the day’s nine speed tests.
Despite his pace, Rovanperä acknowledged the challenge wasn’t always comfortable in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, especially during the afternoon’s second pass through more rutted stages complicated by intermittent patchy rain. Neuville secured the runner-up spot despite admitting the stages weren’t to his liking. A series of top-three times – achieved despite a cracked windscreen – lifted the Hyundai driver back to second overnight.
Team-mate Fourmaux sits just 2.8sec behind in third after a consistent performance that included a joint stage win with Rovanperä on SS8. Katsuta was just four-tenths of a second further back and celebrated his 50th WRC stage win during Friday’s action. He held off Toyota colleague Pajari, who secured two fastest times of his own, by 7.6sec while Sébastien Ogier rounded out the top six just 1.9sec further adrift. Last year’s event winner Ogier felt slightly hampered by road conditions from his starting position of third.
A brief stall on Saarikas 2 cost the eight-time champion valuable seconds, though he noted grip levels had improved on the second pass. Similar road conditions affected Ogier’s Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, who ended 8.4sec behind the Frenchman in seventh. Evans lost the championship lead to Ott Tänak at the previous round but fared better than his title rival today.
Tänak dropped to 10th overall after an impact with a tree on SS7 left him nursing damage for the remaining three stages. M-Sport Ford drivers filled eighth, ninth and 11th positions, with Mārtinš Sesks leading the intra-team battle ahead of Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster.
Saturday:
Kalle Rovanperä stands on the verge of a historic home victory after leading Toyota Gazoo Racing to a 1-2-3-4-5 sweep at Secto Rally Finland on Saturday. The Finn completed the rally’s penultimate leg with a commanding 36.1sec advantage following a dramatic afternoon that saw Hyundai’s championship contenders suffer identical heartbreak. Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux both tumbled from podium positions after front-right tyre deflations struck on the same stage, handing Toyota complete control of the leaderboard.
Rovanperä had earlier overcome his own deflation drama on the morning’s Päijälä stage to reach midday service with a 14.7sec lead over Neuville, with Fourmaux just three-tenths further back. But lightning struck twice for Hyundai when both drivers suffered identical failures on the afternoon’s repeated run through Västilä, plummeting to sixth and seventh respectively.
Victory on Sunday would deliver Rovanperä’s maiden home triumph, though the 24-year-old knows the job isn’t finished. He and co-driver Jonne Halttunen rolled from the lead on the penultimate stage here last season and must safely navigate two passes of the daunting Ouninpohja test before claiming the silverware. Takamoto Katsuta inherited second place from the Hyundai misfortune and stands to celebrate his best result since February’s Rally Sweden.
However, the Japanese driver faces pressure from eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, who sits just 6.8sec behind in third. Ogier himself holds only a 1.5sec cushion over team-mate Elfyn Evans, with Sami Pajari completing Toyota’s remarkable top-five lockout. Evans is poised to reclaim the championship lead with current points leader Ott Tänak languishing outside the top ten. A five-minute penalty after an incident involving a scrutineer on Friday has left the Hyundai-driving Estonian targeting only Super Sunday and Wolf Power Stage points.
Neuville and Fourmaux now find themselves in damage limitation mode, sitting more than a minute behind Pajari with 24.0sec separating the frustrated Hyundai pair. M-Sport Ford’s Mārtinš Sesks endured his own drama when rain-induced windscreen fogging forced a two-minute roadside stop on SS15. The delay dropped the Latvian to 10th behind Puma Rally1 team-mates Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster.
Sunday:
Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen delivered a masterclass performance to end Finland’s eight-year wait for a home winner at Secto Rally Finland, claiming victory in record-breaking fashion today. The pair dominated the fastest rally in FIA World Rally Championship history, maintaining an average speed of 129.95kph across four days of flat-out action to win by 39.2sec.
Their triumph capped an extraordinary weekend that saw Toyota Gazoo Racing achieve only the second 1-2-3-4-5 sweep in WRC history, matching Lancia’s feat on Rally de Portugal in 1990. Juha Kankkunen played a role in both – as a driver in 1990 and today as the deputy team principal for the Jyväskylä-based squad. Rovanperä seized the lead on Friday morning’s opening stage and never relinquished control, methodically building his advantage throughout the weekend.
Drama on Saturday saw Hyundai rivals Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux eliminated from contention by identical tyre deflations and handed the 24-year-old crucial breathing space heading into Sunday’s finale. Clean runs through both passes of the legendary Ouninpohja stage ensured Rovanperä’s maiden home victory was never in doubt, while simultaneously catapulting him back into championship contention. He now sits second in the standings, just three points behind leader Elfyn Evans after round nine of 14.
Behind the winner, an intense battle raged for the remaining podium positions with just 6.6sec blanketing Takamoto Katsuta, Sébastien Ogier and Evans at the finish. Katsuta held his nerve to secure second place by 5.5sec over Ogier, celebrating his best result since February’s Rally Sweden. Ogier, meanwhile, held the final podium spot by just 1.1sec after an intense final-day showdown with Evans.
Sami Pajari completed Toyota’s historic lockout in fifth ahead of Hyundai’s Neuville, while Fourmaux retired his i20 N Rally1 car less than a kilometre from the finish. Their team-mate Ott Tänak fell from first to fourth in the championship, finishing 10th overall after accident damage and a five-minute time penalty ended his chance to fight for a podium on Friday. M-Sport Ford crews filled the remaining top-10 positions, with Josh McErlean leading team-mates Mārtinš Sesks and Grégoire Munster home in seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
Result: https://www.wrc.com/en/events/wrc-secto-rally-finland-2025/wrc-secto-rally-finland-results-2025
[The story is as per press release]
