3 Winners and Losers of WRC Rally Finland

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera finally secured victory in the Finnish forests at the World Rally Championship’s Rally Finland, but who are the winners and losers for the event?

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

Winner: Kalle Rovanpera

Finally, Kalle Rovanpera has secured his first home win in Finland. He has righted the wrong from last year, where a rogue rock on the penultimate stage sent him out of the event. 

It was a commanding performance from the Finn on his way to victory, hindered ever so slightly by a puncture on Saturday, and he has tightened the gap on the championship.

Loser: Ott Tanak

Rally Finland is probably a weekend that could’ve been much better for the Estonian. His event went downhill on Friday after he was given a five-minute time penalty for hitting a scrutineer with his car. 

Despite an attempt to recover his fortunes for the rest of the weekend, Tanak could only take home a single point, and he lost the championship lead. 

Winner: Elfyn Evans

The Welshman has benefited greatly from Hyundai’s misfortunes in Finland. Evans was running amongst the mid-pack after being second on the road on Friday. After Hyundai faltered thanks to punctures, the Toyota driver moved up to fourth by the end of the rally. 

In turn, he has regained the championship lead and holds a three-point lead over Rovanpera. 

Embed from Getty Images

Loser: Thierry Neuville

Neuville was one of the later heartaches for Hyundai, alongside Adrien Fourmaux, who both suffered punctures on Saturday. However, before this, the Belgian was running second ahead of Fourmaux and behind Rovanpera but fell to sixth. 

Both drivers are worthy of a loser position, but the puncture cost Neuville more, as he could have improved his chances of defending his world championship with a second-place finish. Instead, he stands fifth in the driver’s title, 51 points away from Evans. 

Winner: Toyota

Toyota came out of Finland as the obvious winners of the event, not just due to Rovanpera’s eventual victory at home, but the whitewash they had completed in. Thanks to Hyundai’s fall, it meant the Japanese manufacturer completed the event with a 1-2-3-4-5 finish. 

Loser: Hyundai

It was always going to be a tough one for Hyundai. They had a car first out on the road on Friday, and Rovanpera is fast at home. But no one would’ve expected Hyundai to plummet the way it did. 

It wasn’t their fault, besides Tanak’s run-in with a scrutineer, as punctures effectively ruined any chance of a decent result for the South Korean manufacturer. As it stands, Hyundai trails Toyota by 87 points in the manufacturer’s standings.

Read more WRC here:

• Kalle Rovanpera finally wins maiden home event at WRC Rally Finland
• Kalle Rovanpera on cusp of WRC Rally Finland victory
• Kalle Rovanpera continues WRC Rally Finland lead as Hyundai falter
• Neuville and Fourmaux lose Rally Finland top three to punctures
• Kalle Rovanpera extends WRC Rally Finland lead despite puncture
• Kalle Rovanpera takes the lead at Rally Finland

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.