Rookie Esapekka Lappi led his first ever WRC round on Friday night as he topped the leaderboard for Rally Finland in front of his local fans, leading a Toyota Yaris 1-2.
The event is only the Finn's fourth start in the championship but a powerful drive on Friday saw Lappi open up a 4.4 second gap to team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, having won eight of the 12 speed tests.
"I couldn’t even imagine leading,” said Lappi. "It’s really something special and difficult to understand. Ever since I was a young boy I’ve dreamed of driving a World Rally Car in Finland. Now it’s happening and I’m leading. I’m speechless."
Latvala, Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville claimed a sole stage win each, with Teemu Suninen claiming the remaining two as Finn's dominated the proceedings.
Suninen sits third on the leaderboard, 14.6s adrift of Latvala, whilst Ireland's Craig Breen holds fourth for Citroën ahead of another Finn, Juho Hänninen.
Hänninen had been a place higher earlier in the day before he struck a rock and damaged his suspension, finishing 5.9s ahead of Mads Østberg.
It was however a disappointing day for title leaders Neuville and Sébastien Ogier. Despite winning the final stage, Neuville was eighth, quickest almost a minute down on the leader. Ogier meanwhile crashed during the morning's running, damaging his Fiesta’s rear suspension after a heavy landing over one of Finland’s many jumps.
M-Sport's day didn't get much better as Tänak struck a rock and punctured his right-rear tyre, forcing a lengthy change which pushed him down to tenth – without the stoppage, the Estonian would have been sitting pretty in the three.
Hayden Paddon was Friday's big retirement, he too strking a rock and causing suspension damage on the testing Finnish stages.
