Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles
Tänak takes second win of the season in Finland
The Estonian Ott Tänak became the first Hyundai Motorsport driver to win in Jyväskylä when he won his third Rally Finland over the weekend which also became his second win of the season.
Tänak took over the lead of the rally on Friday morning and held on to the lead over the three days, but also had to face a number of fast approaching drivers behind whom he managed to defend off and finished the rally with a good margin of 6.8 seconds over the current WRC championship leader Kalle Rovanperä. Tänak struggled to be comfortable in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 from the start due to problems with the settings of the car but was able to achieve top times throughout the rally thanks to good grip on the Finnish dirt roads and determination.
Rovanperä had to open the roads on Friday’s stages and finished the first-full day in fourth place, during the two following days he moved up to two places while to bring home his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 to a second place meanwhile his teammate Esapekka Lappi kept the third place after a brutal rolling on the penultimate stage, where he lost about 18 seconds, the car was however able to drive to the finish line and Lappi managed to held off teammate Elfyn Evans who finished in fourth place with 16.8 seconds behind.
Credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
Thierry Neuville, who has also had problems with his settings in the Hyundai, had to settle for fifth place, while Toyota Gazoo Racing NG driver Takamoto Katsuta did well with a sixth place and Gus Greensmith became the best M-Sport driver with a seventh place.
Emil Lindholm who otherwise finished the rally in second place in the WRC2 class was promoted to become the class winner as Teemu Suninen was disqualified after post-rally inspection, Lindholm finished eighth overall. Jari Huttunen who made his debut for M-Sport in the Rally1 class ended the home rally in ninth place after several problems with the car during the weekend and the Estonian Egon Kaur took tenth place and claimed second place in the WRC2 class.
Official rally results for Rally1 class:
| Pos. | Number. | Driver / Co-driver | Country | Team | Model |
| 1. | #8 | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja | Estonia | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 |
| 2. | #69 | Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen | Finland | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
| 3. | #4 | Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm | Finland | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
| 4. | #33 | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin | UK | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
| 5. | #11 | Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe | Belgium | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 |
| 6. | #18 | Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston | Japan / UK | Toyota Gazoo Racing NG WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
| 7. | #44 | Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson | UK / Sweden | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 |
| 9. | #68 | Jari Huttunen / Mikko Lukka | Finland | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 |
| 18. | #16 | Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria | France | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 |
| 32. | #42 | Craig Breen / Paul Nagle | Ireland | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 |
| RET. | #7 | Pierre-Louis Loubet / Vincent Landais | France | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 |
| RET. | #2 | Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson | Sweden / UK | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 |
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