Ott Tanak held off charging Kalle Rovanpera to win his third Rally Finland and halt Rovanpera’s winning streak. Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi would recover from a late roll to finish in third, over a minute behind.
Tanak made his feelings known about being chased down on Sunday by extending his lead over Kalle Rovanpera in the first stage. The gap increased to 10.3s with the Estonian making sure that he wasn’t going to give up the win without a fight.
Tanak’s teammate, Thierry Neuville finished third on the stage, but the leading two drivers were in a class of their own on the loose surface.
This was further evidenced by the pair setting exactly the same time on SS20 as both weren’t willing to take risks on the stage. There was no movement in the lower positions with Esapekka Lappi still leading his teammate Elfyn Evans by 43s going into the last two tests.
It would all go wrong for Lappi on SS21 however, The Finn ran wide and got his Yaris into a rut. The car rolled multiple times, but Lappi only dropped 20.5s and still held his third position.
Despite the roll, however, Lappi would hold on to third after the Wolf Power Stage. The Finn only dropped 10s to Evans and completed the stage with no windscreen, but he was happy to have made it still on the podium
‘Wow, that’s nice! There was a rut in the previous stage and we hit it and immediately started to roll…I don’t know what to say – I am sorry to the team for breaking the car but it’s good to be here’
It was to be Ott Tanak that would take the win after only dropping 3s in the final stage. Rovanpera claimed the Power Stage win, but it wasn’t enough to reel in his Estonian rival. Craig Breen and Evans would take 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Power Stage.
‘The Toyota guys gave me some hope on Friday in the beginning and since then we saw our chance. We were pushing from there, but all I want to say in these difficult times is that it’s really down to my wife, she has been supporting me so much and I am really proud of her – I love you so much.’
