Jari-Matti Latvala held a slender Neste Rally Finland lead on Friday night after a remarkable opening leg which ended with the top four drivers blanketed by just 2.6sec.
Home hero Latvala won six of the day's 10 speed tests in forests around Jyväskylä, but such was the speed of Finland’s fast and furious Friday that the Toyota Yaris driver never broke free of the chasing pack.
Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Kris Meeke ended 1.2sec behind the Finn. Esapekka Lappi, driving a Citroën C3, showed a welcome return to form to hold third, a similar margin behind and two-tenths ahead of FIA World Rally Championship leader Ott Tänak.
Despite starting first on the slippery gravel tracks, Tänak overcame a lack of grip to lead throughout the morning, although the Estonian's advantage never rose above 5.4sec. His cause was aided by left-sided punctures for both Latvala and Meeke.
As the tracks became rutted and even more challenging this afternoon, Tänak yielded his advantage to Latvala, who had the best start position of the quartet. The battle was so close that at one point Latvala led by just six-tenths, with the three chasers tied in second!
The omens are good for Latvala. In 15 out of the last 16 years, Friday night's leader has gone on to win.
"There were couple of stages where I was a little bit down but generally I was able to keep the performance. When you are fighting all the time you have big pressure, and being able to keep fighting is the main thing. Tomorrow will be a big battle," he said.
Kris Meeke lies second for Toyota. Photo: RedBull Content Pool
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