Photo Credit: At World There's been a feeling that the Finns have begun to lose control over their home event. Over the last decade only half of the rallies were won by a Finn, with Kris Meeke's thrashing of Jari-Matti Latvala through Ouninpohja a poignant example.
But if this is your opinion, you clearly never watched the ninth round of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship. Neste Rally Finland 2017 was all about the Finns, with all four competing in WRC cras holding the top four positions at one point on Saturday. A quite incredible feat. This year's Rally Finland was all about the home heroes in more ways than one. By far the quickest car, piloted by three local stars, was the Finnish built Toyota Yaris WRC, with Tommi Makinen's outfit extensive Jyvaskyla testing programme paying dividends. Team leader Jari-Matti Latvala was the man who made the brightest start. However, his 26 year old team mate and defending WRC2 Champion Esapekka Lappi woke up after a cautious start and by the end of Friday he had gnawed at Latvala's advantage enough to overhaul him and lead by 4.4 seconds. However, with equal road conditions and greater experience, the three time Rally Finland winner put his team mate in his place and began to pull away. But just like in Poland, towards the end of leg 2 all was not well aboard Latvala's Toyota. In Finland it was a faulty ECU, and an incredibly emotional and understandably frustrated Jari-Matti coasting down the Finnish forest. Not only did Latvala miss out on a home victory that would mean so much to him, a win in Jyvaskyla would have seriously boosted his title aspirations. Lappi was magnanimous with Latvala's misfortune, but rightly decided to cease and savour the moment. Heading into Sunday's final day with a healthy lead of almost a minute, the Yaris #12 pilot had it under control with incredible composure, even when a misjudged cut sent him off line and bent his rear left rim. Victory for Esapekka was nothing short of remarkable. To win a World Rally at just the fourth time of asking is a new record, but to do it at home in front of friends, family and adoring fans makes this the perfect result for the confident, young Finn. The sky really is the limit for this young boy, who is making the same kind of impact in the WRC with a fledgling team like a certain nine-time World Champion did. The battle for the remainder of the podium was equally as intense. For much of the rally after Latvala's demise it was between the other two Finns: Juho Hanninen and Teemu Suninen. Suninen can count himself quite unfortunate, as his rate of progression has been equally as startling as Lappi's. This was only Suninen's second rally in a World Rally Car, and here he was, wedging his Fiesta RS WRC firmly in a titanic podium scrap. Unfortunately for the youngster and the romantics among us who would have loved to see three Finns take their first career podiums on their home event, his charge would be halted by a high speed spin that almost sent his Fiesta into a violent roll. Fourth place was the result, and although this incredibly driven Finn will be dejected by missing out on a podium, a top four finish on your second WRC outing is something to be proud of. And is something for the team bosses to think of with the 2018 rumour mill gathering pace. Juho Hanninen has come under a lot of stick in 2017, but in Finland he was doing a magnificent job. Making the most of the tools at his disposal, he headed into the final stage with a minuscule margin over Elfyn Evans, who had come out of nowhere to launch himself into podium contention after a difficult and damp Friday which didn't suit his DMACK rubber. The Welshman would get revenge over his Argentine setback by this time coming out on top of an ultra-close battle, taking the second step of the podium by just 0.3 seconds. After Kris Meeke's win and Craig Breen's third last year for Citroen, it was Evans' turn to shine for the UK & Ireland in 2017, and this firmly enhances his reputation as a rally winner of the future. As for Hanninen, a maiden podium to complete a 1-3 finish for Toyota Gazoo Racing was an impressive drive, but is it enough to save his 2018 drive? With so many promising drivers with a lot more youth on their side than Juho already impressing and in some cases waiting in the wings, the writing is almost on the wall with this one. Craig Breen reverted to his usual position of fifth on what was yet another bad rally for Citroen Racing. Breen was the brie in a Finnish sandwich early on, running as high as third, but unpredictable handling that has long been a bug-bear of the C3 WRC plagued the Irishman, whose confidence was sapped once more. Kris Meeke fared even worse. Despite winning shakedown, Meeke struggled for confidence all weekend, perhaps not helped by an extended period out of the car after missing Poland. Mikkelsen seems happier with the C3, but he's moulded it around him. Mad conspiracists will begin to link Meeke with moves away from Citroen, but this weekend the Ulsterman will have been wishing he had accepted Tommi Makinen's offer to drive a Yaris. 2018 can't come soon enough. Rally Finland was billed as an epic setting for title protagonists Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville to go toe to toe over the blind Finnish crests, testing their mettle in pursuit of performance. However, neither driver would trouble the top of the leaderboard at any point during the weekend. Ogier's rally was far more disastrous than Neuville's. The promise was of good pace but a heavy landing over an SS4 jump that caught out several others broke part of the Fiesta's suspension, which seemed to distract the World Champion who approached a sweeping left hander far too quickly. The Red Bull stickered Ford ploughed into the trees side on, with the shriek from Julien Ingrassia was telling. The Frenchman was signed off from competing for 15 days meaning no Rally 2 and no points for the championship leader. This was the chance Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul had been waiting for. The Belgian's and their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC have been the quickest package across 2017, but have been playing catch-up to Ogier in the title race due to two howlers in Monte-Carlo and Sweden while leading. However, in Finland, they were far from quickest. They weren't anywhere near the pace, on this their open goal to directly hit Ogier where it hurt. The pair lay eighth after day one, and never really improved their form, accepting that this just wasn't their rally. However, due to other's misfortune and a better set-up Neuville wound up sixth overall, but crucially netted third on the Power Stage to claim an extra three championship points which moved him level with Ogier on 160 points. Neuville heads to Germany as the World Championship leader for the first time in his career on a tie-break, with three wins to Ogier's two. The fight couldn't be closer with both men credited asphalt drivers, but this will all be doubly disappointing for Ogier. Firstly because he has lost his championship lead but secondly because the event he won't have to run first on the road is on one where opening proceedings can be an advantage and not a complete hindrance. Ott Tanak ran wide and punctured the rear right tyre on his Fiesta early on Friday, ruining any chance of a decent result. He recovered to seventh, ahead of Meeke, an anonymous Dani Sordo in ninth and Mads Ostberg in tenth who was running as high as third before car issues and a high speed moment blighted his first event alongside Torstein Eriksen. Hayden Paddon remains the unluckiest driver in the service park, with a rally that would have to be felt to be believed. The Kiwi ran wide on the same corner as Tanak, but damaged his suspension rather than just the tyre and that sidelined his i20 Coupe WRC for the majority of Friday. He and Sebastian Marshall restarted on Saturday but incredibly ran over an unavoidable rock in the racing line which damaged his suspension, again. Paddon is another that will already be longing for 2018, but he did at least get to say goodbye to John Kennard with the outgoing navigator jumping in the Hyundai for one last time on Paddon's final run through shakedown. After an historic Rally Finland, attention turns to the second all-asphalt rally of the year in three weeks time: ADAC Rallye Deutschland. Making a prediction would be pointless, the only thing we can draw just now are conclusions. And with six winners including two debut victors from nine rallies, the drivers title separated by zero points, and a degree of unpredictability we have genuinely not experienced since I was learning my times tables means WRC 2017 can be judged as nothing but a resounding success. Is there even any point in saying I'm excited for Germany? Probably not, that would be too obvious. Instead I'll dedicate the final lines to young Esapekka Lappi. Conqueror of Finland, surely conqueror of the world in years to come.
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January 2018
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