Toyota’s Sami Pajari opened the Laukaa stage with a blistering run, setting an impressive benchmark time.
Pajari beat his Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta by 0.1 seconds on the Laukaa stage. Kalle Rovanperä was third quickest, just 0.4 seconds behind Pajari.
“Really good feeling. There was more grip than I expected, so there was room to push harder. Everything is going according to plan,” Pajari said at the stage end.
Katsuta also enjoyed the familiar road.
“That was really fun. This is such a super-fast stage,” Katsuta beamed.
Kalle Rovanperä was also reasonably pleased with his run.
“That went quite okay. On the wide road it’s not easy to keep up the pace, but once it switches to narrower sections, things get easier,” Rovanperä reflected.
Ott Tänak, who had won Thursday’s Harju super special, was only eighth fastest. The Estonian dropped 5.2 seconds to the stage leader.
“There’s a lot of loose gravel on the road. On the straights there’s no clear line at all, so I couldn’t keep the pace up,” Tänak lamented.
In the overall standings, Takamoto Katsuta moved into a shared lead with Kalle Rovanperä, both clocking the exact same cumulative time. The gaps, however, are extremely tight—Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is just 0.1 seconds behind in third. Sami Pajari and Sébastien Ogier trail by only 0.9 seconds. Remarkably, five drivers are within a single second of each other.
Rally Finland standings after SS2/20:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | 10:33.7 |
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +0.0 |
| 3. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +0.1 |
| 4. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +0.9 |
| 4. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +0.9 |
| 6. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +1.3 |
| 7. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +2.6 |
| 8. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +3.1 |
| 9. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +7.1 |
| 10. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +7.5 |
| 11. | Josh McErlean | Ford | +10.7 |
Rally Finland itinerary (CET):
Thursday, 31 July
08.01 Shakedown: Ruuhimäki (4.12 km)
18.05 SS1: Harju 1 (2.58 km)
Friday, 1 August
07.03 SS2: Laukaa 1 (17.96 km)
08.03 SS3: Saarikas 1 (15.78 km)
09.23 SS4: Myhinpää 1 (14.47 km)
10.51 SS5: Ruuhimäki 1 (7.76 km)
12.01 Service (40 min)
13.44 SS6: Laukaa 2 (17.96 km)
14.44 SS7: Saarikas 2 (15.78 km)
16.04 SS8: Myhinpää 2 (14.47 km)
17.35 SS9: Ruuhimäki 2 (7.76 km)
18.30 SS10: Harju 2 (2.58 km)
Saturday, 2 August
07.01 SS11: Parkkola 1 (15.51 km)
08.42 SS12: Västilä 1 (18.94 km)
09.36 SS13: Päijälä 1 (20.19 km)
11.05 SS14: Leustu 1 (16.44 km)
12.35 Service (40 min)
14.01 SS15: Parkkola 2 (15.51 km)
15.42 SS16: Västilä 2 (18.94 km)
16.36 SS17: Päijälä 2 (20.19 km)
18.05 SS18: Leustu 2 (16.44 km)
Sunday, 3 August
09.35 SS19: Ouninpohja 1 (23.98 km)
12.15 SS20: Ouninpohja 2 (23.98 km)
