WRC: Ott Tanak takes it all in Finland, confirms championship lead

Ott Tanak (Toyota Gazoo Racing) wins the 69th Rally Finland, the ninth round of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship. It’s his second victory in Finland, fourth win this season and tenth WRC victory in a career.

Tanak and his navigator Martin Jarveoja shared the podium with Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Citroen) and Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota). For Lappi, it’s his second podium of the season while Latvala reaches a podium for the first time this year.

Ott Tanak at Rally Finland

Except taking overall victory, Tanak was also fastest on the Power Stage, collecting the maximum amount of thirty points in Finland to extend his championship lead in front of defending champion Sebastien Ogier (Citroen), who finished fifth in Finland. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), the third man who is in the championship fight, finished sixth in Finland.

Neuville was promoted to P6 thanks to team orders when Craig Breen received time penalty for being late at the time control. The best Hyundai driver in Finland was Andreas Mikkelsen in the fourth place. Hyundai Motorsport retained the Manufacturers’ Championship lead in front of Toyota.

Kalle Rovanpera was the best WRC2 driver again

M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen on the eighth place was the last World Rally Car driver in the points, with WRC2 Pro winner Kalle Rovanpera and WRC2 winner Nikolay Gryazin (both in Škoda Fabia R5) taking P9 and P10.

The biggest victim of the Finnish roads was Kris Meeke (Toyota) who crashed out from the third place on Special Stage 14 on Saturday and then again on the penultimate stage on Sunday.

After nine rallies, Ott Tanak has 180 points on his account, twenty-two more than Sebastien Ogier. Thierry Neuville is three points down to Ogier. The next WRC event would be the ADAC Rallye Deutschland on August 22-25.