Sami Pajari will start the final day of Rally Finland with a comfortable 46,4-second lead after long-time leader Sébastien Ogier retired in a dramatic Saturday.
The Frenchman and his replacement co-driver Julien Ingrassia had been setting the pace since Friday morning. Their lead had already been just under 21 seconds, but on the second pass of the Västilä stage, they went off the road at high speed and overturned their Toyota several times.
Despite the violent collision, both crew members got out of the destroyed car on their own, and rescuers took them to a hospital in Tampere for checkups as a precaution.
Due to the retirement, Pajari took first place in his home race. He drove the final stage on Saturday (Leustu) safely and ended the day 46,4 seconds ahead of his Toyota teammate, Oliver Solberg.
“Apparently the entire afternoon was dedicated solely to speed control,” explained Pajari, who is looking forward to another celebration after his breakthrough victory in Estonia. “We still have two long stages ahead of us and anything can happen.”
Elfyn Evans ended up in third place, one minute and 36 seconds behind Pajari, after one of the most unusual stories of the day, and he himself fell over on the morning pass of the Leustu stage.
The championship leader constantly pressured Ogier on the first three stages of Saturday and, with a win on the Parkkola stage, reduced the gap from 16,3 to just 11,6 seconds before going off the road on the 14th stage.
Spectators put the damaged Toyota back on its wheels, but the Welshman lost more than a minute and 40 seconds and dropped to fifth place. Toyota mechanics then made extensive repairs to the car during the midday service, allowing him to continue without penalty.
Evans responded to the mechanics' efforts with a great ride, finishing in the top two three times in the afternoon. He was tied with Adrien Fourmaux on points heading into the final stage, and with a stage win on the Leustu stage he gained a 3,8 second lead in third place.
“I have to thank the mechanics a lot for that incredible repair after my big mistake,” said Evans. “But more importantly, we all hope for the best for Séb and Julien.”
Pajari was already very fast on Saturday morning, winning the first stages of the Päijälä and Västilä stages and closing in on Ogier to within 20,9 seconds of him, before moving up to second place after Evans' accident.
The young Finn continued to press after the service and won the second stages of Parkkola and Västilä. Ogier responded with a win on the Päijälä stage, but his rally was over on the next stage.
Toyota's deputy team principal, Juha Kankkunen, confirmed that they were able to speak to Ogier after the accident.
“Séb was mostly in shock, luckily nothing was broken,” Kankkunen told Rally.TV. "They are on their way to the hospital by helicopter for check-ups, which is extremely important after such an accident."
Solberg holds onto second place after a very thoughtful afternoon, while Fourmaux is still dangerously close to Evans in fourth.
Takamoto Katsuta is currently in fifth place, having spent a good part of Saturday testing and finding the right settings for Sunday's race.
Thierry Neuville worked his way up to sixth place on the final stage, just 1,5 seconds ahead of Josh McErlean, despite suffering a puncture on his front left tyre on the Västilä stage.
Another casualty on Saturday morning was Mārtiņš Sesks, who overturned his Ford Puma on the first pass of the Leust stage. Fortunately, both he and co-driver Renārs Francis were unharmed and are expected to rejoin the caravan on Sunday.
Jari-Matti Latvala took the lead in the RC2 class and sits in eighth place overall, just ahead of WRC2 rivals Teemu Suninen and Robert Virves.
Sunday's schedule includes two passes over the 30,02-kilometer Himos–Jämsä stage, with the rally concluding with its second run, which counts as a "Power Stage" and brings additional points.
