Ogier survives Finnish chaos

For the sixth time this season, a part-time competitor has taken out WRC victory, with a hectic Rally Finland collected by an ominous Sebastien Ogier at the expense of his teammate’s heartbreaking last-day retirement.

The retiree just happened to be back-to-back champion Kalle Rovanpera, who at the time, was cruising to a third successive win.

For Ogier, the eight-time WRC champion had only won Rally Finland once (2008), and it would’ve appeared to have stayed that way when he trailed Rovanpera by 45.8sec into the penultimate stage.

But for the second year running at his home rally, the 23-year old flipped his Yaris whilst leading after clipping an ill-placed rock in a high-speed left hander, sending his Rally1 into a roll.

Ogier’s third win of ’24 also elevates him to second in the title race.

“It’s hard to really smile right now, a win in Finland is great but it’s not the way we’d like to have it,” the Frenchman said.

“I’m very sorry for Kalle and Jonne, they had amazing pace all weekend and were unlucky with that stone on the road…it’s a big shame. That’s the way it is in rallying. We lost one in Sardinia with bad luck, and today we get one…that’s motorsport!

When pressed on whether he’d contest the rest of the championship and try for title #9, Ogier said:

“We’ll have to see, but it looks like I have no other option…I don’t know, it’s not my priority anymore, but we’ll see…”

There was a hint of suggestive smile, and his involvement at the next rally in Greece has already been confirmed.

Toyota was looking the goods for a 1-2-3 finish early, but championship hopeful Elfyn Evans fell from second on the Saturday with mechanical issues.

The biggest beneficiary was Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, with the championship leader elevated into second by rally’s end, +40.1 in arrears.

His two biggest title challengers – Evans and Ott Tanak – both didn’t fare well, as only four Rally1 machine’s finished in the top-ten, throwing the title fight into the unknown.

Taking his fourth podium of the season was Ford-M Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux (+1:14.1 from Ogier), whilst Toyota’s Finnish Rally1 debutant Sami Pajari the last of the Rally1’s in fourth until Takamoto Katsuta in 19th!

There was 305.69km of timed action, and for the first time, regulators also introduced a dashboard GPS alerted virtual chicane, where drivers had to immediately slow to 60kph before setting off again. There was also the return of the legendary Ouninpohja stage.

2017 Finland winner Esapekka Lappi took out shakedown, before the spectator-heavy 3.4km SS1 in the centre of Jyvaskyla was taken out by Neuville to end the Thursday.

Friday delivered the bad weather and bad early omens for Hyundai, who entered this round with a slender one point lead in the manufacturers battle.

It was on SS3 that the championship may have slipped away from Tanak, who rolled his i20N into retirement, whilst his co-driver Martin Jarveoja was taken to hospital for checks. Hyundai also lost Lappi after hitting a tree and relieving his Hyundai of its rear suspension, whilst Rovanpera went on a tear, battling oversteer to take four stages and an 8sec lead from Evans and Ogier.

Takamoto was another casualty of the slippery roads, with only seven Rally1’s making it through over the days 116.3km, whilst Pajari also claimed his first ever stage win on debut, taking out SS9.

After Saturdays 144.2km, it was hard to see that Rovanpera wouldn’t his home duck, winning five of six to hold a 44.2sec lead over Ogier, who was elevated at the expense of Evans.

In a super-speed Saturday, the latter’s championship hopes were damaged badly when his front right driveshaft broke in SS12, and with Neuville up into third, his title chances look to be fading.

The biggest shock on Sunday’s closing stages was of course the rogue-rock derailing Rovanpera. The Finn was on an absolute tear after winning the first two stages of the morning, but it wasn’t to be for the second year running, with Rovanpera cutting a forlorn figure sitting on a stump in the middle of the woods.

In the end it was Ogier giving Toyota a bittersweet victory, taking out his 61st WRC win.

In the WRC2 it was the title leading Oliver Solberg taking a third win for the year in his Skoda in fifth outright, +39 ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the GR Rally2, and Lauri Jonna in another Skoda. Notably, a Rally3 Citroen driven by Nikolay Gryazin, also finished in the top-ten.

Photo by McKlein / LAT Images

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