World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville seized victory in the opening stage of Rally Finland, narrowly beating Takamoto Katsuta for an early advantage.
Neuville, the last Rally1 contender to hit the Harju super special stage in Jyvaskyla, managed to edge out Toyota’s Katsuta by just 1.1 seconds on the mixed surface of the track.
This strong stage time came after a challenging shakedown session on Thursday morning for the Belgian racer at the renowned gravel rally.
“It’s a promising start, but the actual race begins tomorrow,” Neuville remarked. “We’re looking ahead; this morning’s shakedown was tough for us, and we encountered some issues with the car.”
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak clocked the third-fastest time, just 0.2 seconds behind the leader, while Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier, competing in Finland for the first time since 2021, finished fourth. Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera completed the top five.
“Starting the rally on this stage is always tricky, and it felt narrower in some spots – I just wanted to get through it. Now that it’s done, we can look forward to tomorrow,” Rovanpera commented.
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Adrien Fourmaux was the fastest among M-Sport-Ford drivers in sixth place (+3.0s), closely followed by Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (+3.1s), who narrowly avoided hitting a tyre wall with the rear of his i20 N. Toyota’s Elfyn Evans finished eighth (+3.2s) ahead of Rally1 rookie Sami Pajari (+4.6s).
“It’s a unique moment with a great atmosphere here at the Harju stage, although I’m not sure how much I enjoyed it due to the conditions; the 500 horsepower gives a lot of power, but we’re looking forward to tomorrow,” Pajari expressed.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster rounded out the top 10 (+8.2s).
Oliver Solberg, a contender for the WRC2 title, set the fastest time in the second tier, finishing 1.1 seconds ahead of Estonia’s Georg Linnamae, while Jari-Matti Latvala, the Toyota WRC team principal who made a one-time appearance, ended the session third (+2.1s), driving a Rally2-spec GR Yaris.
“That’s unusual; I played it safe at the start and didn’t warm my tyres enough, which made me overly cautious at first, but the second lap felt much better,” Solberg remarked.
The rally proceeds on Friday with nine gravel stages awaiting the participants.
