WRC Finland: Toyota’s Ott Tanak closes on win as Lappi crashes out – WRC

Ott Tanak is two stages away from his second World Rally Championship victory this year on Rally Finland, while his Toyota team-mate Esapekka Lappi crashed out on Sunday’s first stage.

With a healthy lead already in place overnight Tanak slowed his pace somewhat, unlike his younger team-mate who continued to push hard.

Lappi was battling over fourth place with Hyundai’s best placed driver Hayden Paddon, holding a nine second advantage overnight after grabbing the position away from him late on Saturday.

Running wide with only a few corners left of the Laukaa test, Lappi’s car was dragged into the grass and bounced off a ditch, sending his Toyota Yaris into a roll.

Citroen’s mid-season replacement Mads Ostberg is still defending second place from Jari-Matti Latvala behind, winning the first pass of Laukaa to gain 0.9s.

Latvala swiftly responded, winning the Ruuhimaki test to recoup 1.2s to Ostberg, the pair now separated by 5.1s.

M-Sport’s trio of Ford Fiestas continue to hold formation with Teemu Suninen fifth, reigning champion Sebastien Ogier sixth and Elfyn Evans in seventh.

Though Suninen and Ogier are currently separated by 20.5s, Suninen’s position is still under question as the Finn stated he needs to “to do the best thing for the team” when asked about potential team orders.

Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville are promoted to eighth and ninth respectively by Lappi’s retirement and, after losing several minutes on Friday, Andreas Mikkelsen has returned to a points-scoring position in 10th.

Leading positions after SS21