Elfyn Evans, who was running second in the rally, experienced a technical failure mid-stage and lost almost a minute and a half to the fastest time. Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin suspected a broken driveshaft.
The Welshman dropped to fifth place in the rally, but there is still the over 30-kilometre Ouninpohja special stage ahead before the service break.
“We have some issues, we have to go check. Transmission,” Evans remarked at the stage finish.
Toyota’s Finnish star Kalle Rovanperä set a commanding fastest time in Päijälä and now leads the rally by 21.8 seconds ahead of Sebastien Ogier.
“Really difficult conditions, this was really slippy all the time. I don’t know what the weather has against us, every single day the rain starts for us,” Rovanperä summarized.
“It’s pretty difficult to drive with so little grip. I still had a clean stage. A big shame for Elfyn,” Ogier lamented.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who leads the WRC standings, moved up to third in the rally due to Evans’ problems, and M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is now fourth. Sami Pajari, debuting in Toyota’s Rally1 car, is sixth ahead of the WRC2 class leaders Oliver Solberg and Jari-Matti Latvala.
Rally Finland will have four more special stages on Saturday. The competition ends on Sunday.
Rally Finland standings after SS12/20:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 1:16:22.5 |
| 2. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +21.8 |
| 3. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +39.7 |
| 4. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:07.7 |
| 5. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1:38.3 |
| 6. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +1:45.5 |
| 7. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +4:36.7 |
| 8. | Jari-Matti Latvala | Toyota | +4.59,0 |
Rally Finland Itinerary
Thursday 1.8. 09.01 Shakedown: Ruuhimäki (4.12 km) 18.05 SS1: Harju 1 (3.48 km) Friday 2.8. 07.13 SS2: Laukaa 1 (17.96 km) 08.20 SS3: Saarikas 1 (15.93 km) 09.35 SS4: Myhinpää 1 (15.51 km) 11.05 SS5: Ruuhimäki 1 (7.76 km) 14.10 SS6: Laukaa 2 (17.96 km) 15.17 SS7: Saarikas 2 (15.93 km) 16.32 SS8: Myhinpää 2 (15.51 km) 18.05 SS9: Ruuhimäki 2 (7.76 km) 19.05 SS10: Harju 2 (2.01 km) Saturday 3.8. 08.05 SS11: Västilä 1 (18.94 km) 09.05 SS12: Päijälä 1 (20.19 km) 10.05 SS13: Ouninpohja 1 (32.98 km) 14.35 SS14: Västilä 2 (18.94 km) 15.35 SS15: Päijälä 2 (20.19 km) 16.35 SS16: Ouninpohja 2 (32.98 km) Sunday 4.8. 07.55 SS17: Sahloinen-Moksi 1 (14.27 km) 09.05 SS18: Laajavuori 1 (4.35 km) 10.17 SS19: Sahloinen-Moksi 2 (24.27 km) 12.15 SS20: Laajavuori 2 (8.77 km)* Power Stage
