WRC - Rally Finland: Early lead for Sebastien Ogier

World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier kicked off the Rally Finland with the fastest time on the short superspecial Harju. His Volkswagen Polo R WRC needed 1.48.6 minutes for the 2.27 km-long stage, which was mostly asphalt with only small gravel sections.

Ogier was six tenths of a second faster than Kris Meeke in Citroen DS3 WRC. Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen was third fastest with a time of  1.49.4 seconds, three-tenths of a second faster than the fourth placed Robert Kubica in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen) was fifth, ahead of Mads Ostberg (Citroen) and Martin Prokop (Ford). Hyundai successfully rebuilt Thierry Neuville‘s i20 WRC after his shakedown crash and he finished 8th in SS1, four tenths of a second faster than his teammate Dani Sordo.

Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford Fiesta RRC) leads the WRC2 class, Quentin Gilbert (Citroen DS3 R3T) is fastest in WRC3 and Junior WRC category, while Ghislain De Mevius (Ford Fiesta R2) has taken the in the Drive D-Mack Cup. Nine special stages are scheduled for tomorrow, without any service time between them.