Elfyn Evans was part of a thrilling lead battle for much of the weekend at Rally Finland before having to make repairs after damaging his suspension on Saturday afternoon.

He and co-driver Scott Martin still finished fourth overall and took third in the Power Stage: Points that ensure Toyota Gazoo Racing increased its manufacturers’ championship lead by one point to 88.

The Dolgellau driver who stands third in the championship said: “It’s been a bit of a frustrating weekend. At times I’ve not felt too bad but at others I’ve struggled a bit with the feeling in the car, a bit more than in other weekends.

“The car was good but I was just missing that last bit of confidence from it.

“We were changing quite a lot during the weekend to try and find that but sometimes that can just make things worse.

“Today we weren’t really in a close fight so we took the opportunity to try something a bit different.

“In the Power Stage I wasn’t really satisfied with my run but we still got a few extra points which is always helpful.”

2022 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 08 / Rally Finland 2022 / 4th-7th August 2022  // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans takes to the air in his GR YARIS Rally 1 hybrid at Rally Finland (Toyota Gazoo Racing / McKlein)

Evans won the rally last year but that honour this time around went to Estonian Ott Tänak in his Hyundai i20 N WRC hybrid rally.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kalle Rovanperä extended his FIA World Rally Championship lead with a well-calculated drive to second place on a ferociously fast Rally Finland, as team-mate and fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi survived remarkable late drama to join him on the podium at their home rally.

Tasked with sweeping the gravel roads around their hometown of Jyväskylä, Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen ended Friday 21 seconds from the lead and fourth overall on a rally known for high speeds and narrow margins.

Willed on by the local support in the spiritual home of rallying, Rovanperä was then rapid through the longest day of the rally on Saturday and fastest in six out of eight stages to climb to second overall and slash the gap to the leader to 8.4s.

He thus went into the final day still eyeing a famous home win, but was not in a position to risk everything while on course to strengthen his grip on the championship and ultimately had to settle for second place, only 6.8s behind Ott Tänak.

He did however take the maximum five bonus points for the fastest time in the rally-ending Power Stage, which increases his advantage to 94 points with five rallies remaining.

The first Rally Finland for the new generation of hybrid Rally1 cars was the fourth-fastest WRC round of all time, and the incredibly close lead fight required drivers to have good confidence in their cars despite limited testing on such roads.

The GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID recorded the quickest time in 15 of the 22 stages.

Lappi led the Toyota charge through Friday and much of Saturday, before a freak incident with a rock that deflected up and damaged his windscreen, hampering visibility.

He was to encounter further drama in the penultimate stage of the rally, which was heavily rutted.

One such rut on the exit of a corner caused him to roll over three times. He was able to complete the stage while losing only 20 seconds and remaining third overall, but he and co-driver Janne Ferm had to carry out roadside repairs including removing the car’s windscreen and topping up a radiator.

Incredibly, despite the obvious damage, they lost only 10 further seconds in the final stage to hold onto third by a relatively comfortable 16.9s and score their second podium of the season.

Next up is Ypres Rally Belgium (19-21 August) ran as a WRC round for the first time in 2021 but has a long-standing reputation as a classic and demanding asphalt rally, known for its fast but narrow farmland roads lined by large ditches.

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY FINLAND

1 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 2h24m04.6s

2 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +6.8s

3 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m20.7s

4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m37.6s

5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2m18.0s

6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +3m09.0s

7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +3m57.0s

8 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +9m31.3s

9 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hämäläinen (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +9m39.0s

10 Jari Huttunen/Mikko Lukka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +10m31.6s