The 2022 and 2023 FIA World Rally champions have never tasted victory in Jyväskyla before, but lead last year's winners Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin by 8.0 seconds with Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais completing a 1-2-3 for the Finnish-based Toyota team.
After Thursday's opening stage on the streets of a buzzing Harju, the rally headed for the forests on Friday with Secto Rally Finland classics like Laukaa, Myhinpää and Ruuhimäki all on the menu - as well as the brand-new Saarikas test. A return to Harju in front of the passionate crowd rounded out a big day of action.
Locked in a battle all day long, the three leading Toyotas made the rally their own as Hyundai Motorsport suffered a troubling day - first by losing Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja on SS3 and then Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm in the afternoon. Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston also retired with damage after the first pass of Ruuhimäki.
Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe are the leading i20 N Rally1 in fourth place, ahead of M-Sport Ford's Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria and Finnish Rally1 debutants Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkonen who took their first ever WRC stage win on the second pass of Ruuhimäki.
The 22-year-old suffered a tricky start to the day when he lost the rear wing of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on Laukaa 1 and was forced to complete the rest of the morning loop without proper aerodynamics. But once that was fixed in service, former Flying Finn Future Star Award winner Pajari flew and proved why he was worthy of his chance in the top class.
Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson lead the WRC2 class over three-time Secto Rally Finland winner Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen. Latvala, who usually acts as team principal for the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, is making his very first WRC2 start in Finland and has kept championship leader Solberg honest all-day long. He trails Solberg by 21.3s overnight.
In total there are six Finns within the top 10 of WRC2 after Friday; Mikko Heikkilä fighting Robert Virves for third with Roope Korhonen and Lauri Joona completing the top-six.
Seventeen-year-old Tuukka Kauppinen has defied his obvious lack of experience to lie 13th in WRC2 in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. On just his second ever start in a four-wheel-drive car, he has kept his head in extremely challenging conditions on a day that caught out so many others.
Flying Finn Future Star Award winner Leevi Lassala was also performing strongly on his prize Secto Rally Finland drive in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, before unfortunately crashing out on Saarikas 2. He will restart the rally tomorrow.
Saturday's leg Secto Rally Finland is one of the most eagerly anticipated days ever, with world-renowned stages Västilä, Päijälä and of course Ouninpohja. The action begins at 9.05am local time.