Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen headed a Toyota Gazoo Racing one-two-three after a day of high drama in the Finnish forests.
Pajari took four stage wins from eight tests and heads into Sunday’s final two long stages with a lead of 46.2 seconds over Oliver Siolberg and Elliot Edmondson. “Obviously all the afternoon is about trying to manage the speed. Even this stage I still enjoyed it. There are two more long stages to do. Anything can still happen,” said the Finn.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin climbed from fifth at lunchtime on to the final step of the podium after demoting Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria on the final stage of the day with just 3.8 seconds separating the fight for third overall. Fourmaux had a puncture in stage 17 which cost him a few seconds.
The major talking point was a massive accident that befell Sebastien Ogier and his stand-in co-driver Julien Ingrassia who crashed at high speed in the penultimate stage. The test was immediately red-flagged as rescuers attended the scene, and thankfully, TGR-WRT released a short message on their X account saying both crew had exited their car on their own and would be taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up.
Stage 14, the final stage of the morning loop saw another major talking point when firstly Martins Sesks and Renars Francis crashed and then Evans rolled three times a few hundred meters from the end of the stage. His car landed on its wheels but bogged down in a ditch which required a large crowd of spectators to help get the car on its way. He dropped to fifth in the overall standings.
His GR Yaris was cosmetically worse for wear but a mammoth effort from the team saw Evans take on the second loop in a near perfect car and he went on to end the day on the podium. “It wasn’t the best stage in here. It was ok, not the cleanest. I have to say a huge thanks to the guys for lunchtime after my huge mistake. Thank you to the guys for that. Perhaps even more important we are hoping for the best for Seb and Julien. I need to be awake on that first stage tomorrow.”
Martins Sesks and Renars Francis also crashed out in SS14 while holding fifth place on the overall classification. The crew was unharmed.
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston ended the day in fifth place, comfortably ahead of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe who passed Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy on the final stage, the Irish duo hold a respectable seventh overall.
Jari-Matti Latvala leads WRC2 but is not nominated to score points, leaving Teemu Suninen as the top points scorer, 3.1 seconds ahead of Robert Virves and Lauri Joona. TGR’s latest wunderkind, 19-year-old Jasper Vaher is chasing hard in fourth.
Sunday consists of one stage of 30km, run twice to round out the 10th round of the WRC.
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