Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy to begin second leg of Secto Rally Finland in ninth place
The Irish crew of Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) pictured on the opening leg of the Secto Rally Finland. Picture: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool.
The Irish crew of Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) will begin Saturday's second leg of Secto Rally Finland in ninth place after a steady run through Friday's nine stages.
Out in front in a tense battle and having taken the outright lead on SS3, Finland's Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), who has never won his home event, leads the way - 4.9s seconds ahead of reigning World champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 Rally1) whose team mate Adrian Fourmaux is 2.8s seconds further behind in third.
Pre-event championship leader Ott Tanak (Hyundai i20 Rally1) took a 1.3s lead on Thursday evening’s opening Harju street stage but it was Japan's Takamoto Katsuta (with his Fintona co-driver Aaron Johnston) and Rovanpera that shared top spot after Friday's opener before Rovanpera won the next two stages that included the fast Saarikas stage - a reversal of previous years.
He arrived at the service park with a 4.4s advantage over Fourmaux with Finland's Sami Pajari (Toyota) just a tenth of a second behind in third, the latter also winning two of the morning's stages.
Katsuta in fourth was followed by Neuville, who like many others, was of the opinion that the stages were too fast. "It’s just pure taking risks.”
Eight time World champion and last year's event winner Sebastien Ogier, who was trying to find a rhythm, concurred. "The roads are almost too fast in places - they’re just flat out everywhere, not the most enjoyable in places."
Meanwhile, the M-Sport trio of Martiņs Sesks, Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster were having their own battle with Sesks leading the way 6.8s ahead of McErlean. Munster had a major slide on SS3 and overshot on SS4 and was 21.4s behind McErlean, who commented, "Takes a bit to get your head around, it goes better than you expect because everything's flat out, bit more commitment needed.
"It should be easier (through the second pass) - onboards to look at where you're losing (time)."
Rain made the afternoon stages tricky and difficult - each of the four stages in the Finnish countryside had a different winner before Fourmaux won the short Harju street stage as a composed Rovanpera, who admitted he took a few risks, continued to lead.
Championship leader Ott Tanak, who had the task of opening the roads, ended the day in tenth - his Hyundai snapped under braking some 2km into SS7 and the front right took a heavy impact after it hit a tree, however, he was quickly back up to speed.
Meanwhile, Donegal's Eamonn Kelly/Conor Mohan (Ford Fiesta Rally3) are second in the Junior WRC category - 14.9s behind leaders Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic, the Irish crew were quickest on SS3.
There are eight stages today and two on Sunday - a double run over the 23.98km Ouninpohja stage.
1. K. Rovanpera/J. Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 56m. 31.6s
2. T. Neuville/M. Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+4.9s
3. A. Fourmaux/A. Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+7.7s
4. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+8.1s
5. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+15.7s
6. S. Ogier/V. Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+17.6s
7. E. Evans/S. Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+26.0s
8. M. Sesks/R. Francis (Ford Puma Rally1)+40.5s
9. J. McErlean/O. Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1)+1m. 06.0s
10. O. Tanak/M. Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+1m. 07.2s.
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