Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen are just one day away from becoming the first Finnish winners of Secto Rally Finland in seven years, leading the rally by 44.2 seconds after Saturday.
The FIA World Rally champions showed their class on the famous Västilä, Päijälä and Ouninpohja stages in the Jämsä region south-west of host city Jyväskylä.
A revered special stage all over the world, Ouninpohja returned to the itinerary for the first time since 2017, running in its full 33km format. That was made possible via the virtual chicane system, with Secto Rally Finland becoming the first ever FIA World Rally Championship event to use one.
Spectators flocked to watch their heroes on such legendary roads, braving the changeable weather conditions to bring the atmosphere and cheer on the world's best rally drivers. Rovanperä rewarded them with an unbelievable performance on the second run of Ouninpohja, setting a time over 20 seconds than Kris Meeke's stage record in the opposite direction with an average speed of over 136km/h.
Rovanperä set a strong pace all day, in a battle with Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mates Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin and Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais until driveshaft trouble for last year's Secto Rally Finland winner Evans dropped him out of the fight.
Ogier kept the local hero honest on his first visit to Finland since 2021, but Rovanperä proved too strong and therefore will head into Sunday's final leg with a healthy advantage out front. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe round out the current podium places for Hyundai Motorsport.
Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria are fourth overall in the leading M-Sport Ford entrant, one place ahead of Rally1 debutants Sami Pajair/Enni Mälkönen. The Finnish pairing picked up where they left off on Friday to once again display speed that belied their lack of experience at the top level.
Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Škoda) remain the leaders of the WRC2 category, 47.6 seconds up the road from Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hännnen. Despite retiring as a professional rally driver at the end of 2020, Latvala cannot resist coming back to Secto Rally Finland and holds seventh place overall in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi round out the top-three in their Škoda, with fellow Finns Mikko Heikkilä/Kristian Temonen (Toyota) and Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka also inside the top-six.
Flying Finn Future Star Award winner Leevi Lassala dusted himself down after a difficult Friday and showed the world what he can do with a top-three Junior WRC stage time on Ouninpohja. Another Finnish youngster, 17-year-old Tuukka Kauppinen, was similarly impressive, displaying maturity well beyond his years to lie just outside the top-10 in his WRC2.
Secto Rally Finland concludes with four special stages on Sunday - two passes of the Sahloinen-Moksi and Laajavuori test. The repeat run of Laajavuori will be the end-of-event power stage, with the winner of the rally set to be crowned at approximately 2.15pm local time.
