Kris Meeke got his return to the WRC off to a flying start by topping the leaderboard during a close shakedown for Rally Finland on Thursday.
The Briton sat out the last event in Poland as Citroën chose to instead run Andreas Mikkelsen, but Meeke is back in the C3 this week at the same venue where he clinched a great victory 12 months previously.
Meeke's time of 2:14.3 seconds put him a tenth ahead of Thierry Neuville on the 4.62km Ruuhimäki speed test. Hyundai i20 driver Neuville was four-tenths clear of Ott Tänak, the trio all posting their best times in their fourth pass.
"I was a little bit hesitant in the first run because our test here was compromised a lot by really heavy rain showers and we struggled to get any consistent conditions to do any work," commented Meeke.
"We started this morning with different bits and pieces on the car which I had even never had on before. The first few runs were tentative, but we did a lot of changes. It was like a test session for us again and the feeling became more and more confident."
Jari Latvala’s time in his Toyota Yaris was quick enough for fourth, putting him just six-tenths behind Meeke. Sordo and Craig Breen completed the top six, with a second covering them.
Championship leader Sébastien Ogier matched Meeke’s time but his run was deleted after he cut a chicane. He ended up ninth fastest behind Mads Østberg and Hayden Paddon, the pair finishing joint-seventh with identical times.
Esapekka Lappi completed the top ten in his Toyota Yaris, 1.7 seconds down on Meeke's effort.
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