Arctic Rally Finland has just started with the morning shakedown, which is 5.69 kilometers long. The Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC have been, for the moment, the fastest of the day. The real action won’t start until early in the afternoon.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja took the best time of the day. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were second, just seven tenths behind their teammates. The Belgians were the protagonists of one of the scares of the day, hitting a snow bank in the second pass.
After both Korean cars, the distances have been increased by more than four seconds. Takamoto Katsuta and Daniel Barrit put the Toyota Yaris WRC in third place. Pierre Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais set the Japanese’s time, 4.4 seconds behind Hyundai’s second unit.
Craig Breen and Paul Nagle finished fifth, while Kalle Rovanperä and Oliver Solberg, sixth and seventh, posted their best time to tenth. These have finished in front of several favorite drivers such as Teemu Suninen, Sébastien Ogier or Elfyn Evans.
The action will begin this afternoon with two passes to the Sarriojärvi stage, 31 kilometers long. It will be the longest special of the race. This very afternoon many things can be decided in the Arctic Circle …
Several of today’s problems. Images from Rallirinki / Teemu (@HartusvuoriWRC):
