Hyundai’s Ott Tanak was serene at the front of the field after the second day of the World Rally Championship’s Arctic Rally, winning three of the six Saturday stages.
Tanak won two stages in the morning and went fastest again on the first stage of the afternoon after the service, then settled into a rhythm and protected his tyres while Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera and Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville battled it out.
Neuville posted an electrifying time on the final stage of the day, 12.3 seconds faster than Tanak, to close within 2s of Rovanpera, who holds second place overall.
Tyre wear and preserving the Pirelli studded rubber was the major preoccupation for most teams, with drivers finding that their front end grip fell off a cliff through the course of the day.
Irishman Craig Breen in the third Hyundai holds fourth place, but was left frustrated as he fell back from the podium battle by half a minute.
Breen remains 10s in front of Elfyn Evans’s Toyota as the Welshman battled a less-than-favourable road position, as did his team-mate and defending champion Sebastien Ogier close behind.
Ogier had suffered worst from sweeping the stages at the front of the field on Friday, which left him continuing to act as sweeper for Saturday’s stages and falling more than a minute behind the leaders.
The Frenchman then went off 50 metres from the end of the final stage and has elected to retire the car, allowing his team more time in order to try and maximise his setup for the points-scoring Power Stage on Sunday.
Ogier’s misfortune allowed teenage sensation Oliver Solberg up into sixth place overall in his first appearance at the wheel of a full WRC car for Hyundai. The Toyota of Takamoto Katsuta and the M-Sport Fords of Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith round out the top category.
“All to plan: the tyres are quite tired so it was important to get here without any mistakes, so it’s all good” said leader Tanak.
Tenth place overall and top of the WRC2 category falls to Esapekka Lappi’s Volkswagen, with a 50s advantage over the Skoda of Andreas Mikkelsen.
Just one stage remains on the Arctic Rally, the 22.47 km Aittajarvi test, which will be run twice, with the second pass acting as Power Stage with points on offer to the five fastest cars.
WRC Arctic Rally results – day 2
| Pos | Class | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RC1 | Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja | Hyundai | 1h43m32.1s |
| 2 | RC1 | Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen | Toyota | 24.1s |
| 3 | RC1 | Thierry Neuville, M.Wydaeghe | Hyundai | 25.9s |
| 4 | RC1 | Craig Breen, P.Nagle | Hyundai | 53.4s |
| 5 | RC1 | Elfyn Evans, S.Martin | Toyota | 1m03.5s |
| 6 | RC1 | Oliver Solberg, S.Marshall | Hyundai | 1m26.8s |
| 7 | RC1 | Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt | Toyota | 1m34.4s |
| 8 | RC1 | Teemu Suninen, M.Markkula | Ford | 1m49.3s |
| 9 | RC1 | Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson | Ford | 3m01.8s |
| 10 | WRC2 | Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm | Volkswagen | 4m48.8s |
| 11 | WRC2 | Nikolay Gryazin, K.Aleksandrov | Volkswagen | 6m14.6s |
| 12 | RC1 | Janne Tuohino, R.Hamalainen | Ford | 6m17.4s |
| 13 | RC1 | Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia | Toyota | 20m52.6s |