At the end of Sunday, Sebastien Ogier is the winner of this year's Rally Finland with Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux completing the podium.
Sebastien Ogier scores his third win of the season and returns back to the top step of the podium in Finland since 2013 when he was driving for Volkswagen Motorsport while it had been three years since his last outing at the Grand Prix of WRC. However, he lost some seconds in Powerstage and was only the fifth-fastest driver there taking only point from PS.
Thierry Neuville climbs to the second position overall and his chances to win this year's title are bigger after Ott Tanak's and Elfyn Evans's retirements from Rally Finland as four rounds remaining until the season finale. However, he had a moment in Stage 18 as he lost the rear on acceleration and sent his i20N into a cut.
Adrien Fourmaux finished third overall for a fourth time this year and had a moment in Stage 17 as he lost the rear of his Puma around halfway when one cut pushed him a bit wide.
Sami Pajari must be very excited with his fourth place on his home event considering the fact that he made his debut at the top class with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 this weekend. Moreover, he came off the road and onto the grass as he got stuck on the inside of a corner and made an emergency manouvre in Stage 17.
Oliver Solberg, Jari-Matti Latvala and Lauri Joona follow Pajari on the classification and are the top three drivers in WRC2 class.
Takamoto Katsuta and Esapekka Lappi remained outside the top ten with the Japanese star setting the fastest time in SS19 and SS20 scoring the five points in Powerstage.
Lappi remains the latest driver from Finland who finished at the top step of the podium meaning that Finland must wait one more year to see a Finn driver winning their event as it has been seven years since Lappi's victory there. Last but not least, he topped the SuperSunday standings scoring the seven points for Hyundai while he was quicker than Katsuta for some thousandths of a second as both of them set an identical pace on Sunday.
Gregoire Munster restarted under the SuperRally regulations today following his crash on the opening stage of Saturday while the rear left window of his Puma was missing after the end of SS19.
Elfyn Evans went off the road around 200 meters into Stage 19 and his title hopes fade as he scored zero points this weekend and his championship rival Neuville extended further his lead.
Kalle Rovanpera had a comfortable lead and managed to increase further his gap from his teammate Ogier at the end of Stage 18 as he was the fastest driver on the first two stages of Sunday, but he clipped a rock and rolled his Yaris in Stage 19. Last but not least, it must be mentioned that he was very close on winning his home event for a first time in his career after his having shown an amazing pace all the weekend.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after the end of Rally Finland:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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