Toyota’s Sami Pajari started off strongly and clocked the fastest time on his first run. He beat his Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta by 0.4 seconds.
“Pretty good feeling. I have good memories from this stage. I set my first fastest time here with a Rally2 car and last year with a Rally1 car. We’ll go with the feeling, but for now it feels pretty good,” Pajari summed up.
Adrien Fourmaux also started well and beat his M-Sport Ford teammate Ott Tänak by 0.7 seconds. Fourmaux is not considered among the main favourites for the rally victory, at least on paper.
The favourite’s role has instead been placed on Tänak’s shoulders.
“We haven’t done many stages in Finland in recent years, so this is kind of like a new rally for me. We just tried to get a good feeling in the shakedown and find the rhythm. Still, this is a really fun event,” Tänak said.
Kalle Rovanperä showed very promising speed right from the start. The Finn seemed to have good grip—something he has really been lacking lately. Rovanperä set the sixth-fastest time, 2.4 seconds off Pajari’s benchmark. Ford’s Josh McErlean also finished ahead of him.
“This weekend we’ll be pushing as hard as we can, every chance we get” Rovanperä promised.
Rovanperä left behind, among others, his teammates Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. The slowest Rally1 car on the opening shakedown runs was the Ford of Martins Sesks. Meanwhile, Oliver Solberg, who stunned with his victory at Rally Estonia, suffered quite a culture shock. He finished behind Sesks and struggled to find confidence in the car.
“The step up from Rally2 to Rally1 went well before, but now this felt pretty terrible. I had no trust in the car at all,” Solberg lamented.
Rally Finland officially begins with the Harju spectator stage on Thursday evening. The real action gets underway on Friday morning.
