Tanak closes in on Rally Finland victory
Top 15 classification after SS19 at Rally Finland
Ott Tanak has produced a healthy lead on Saturday at Rally Finland to set himself up for victory with Toyota while Mads Ostberg looks under threat from local star Jari-Matti Latvala for second place.
Top 15 classification after SS19 at Rally Finland
Ott Tanak has produced a healthy lead on Saturday at Rally Finland to set himself up for victory with Toyota while Mads Ostberg looks under threat from local star Jari-Matti Latvala for second place.
Having reclaimed the lead from Citroen’s Ostberg on SS7, Tanak enjoyed a near-flawless drive across Saturday’s loops to pull out his advantage to 39 seconds with four stages remaining. Latvala could help produce a Toyota 1-2 if he can overhaul Ostberg on Sunday having closed to 5.4s.
Toyota’s third driver Esapekka Lappi, who claimed a dramatic victory at the Finnish event 12 months ago, also looks set for a strong finish having taken a hat-trick of stage wins at the end of the afternoon loop to move up to fourth place.
Lappi’s charge sees Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon drop to fifth place, nine seconds back on the Finn, with M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen remaining in sixth place.
Defending WRC champion Sebastien Ogier remains seventh ahead of teammate Elfyn Evans with Craig Breen a distant ninth for Citroen.
WRC championship leader Thierry Neuville remains marooned in 10th place, over half a minute off Breen, while his Hyundai teammate has recovered to move up to 11th just outside the points.
