Because Citroen is only contesting part of this year's world
series, Meeke goes into Finland ninth in the standings. That means he will
start eighth on the road (Dani Sordo is not out) which led Capito to believe
that this will put Meeke in an unbeatable position on the WRC's fastest rally.
Although Sebastien Ogier still leads the championship, he has not
won on gravel all season and Capito sees no sign of that changing given the
current running order rules. As points leader Ogier will run first on the road
in Finland, Capito observed: "If Kris does no major mistake, he wins
Finland. It's not just difficult for Ogier to fight for the win, it's
impossible now for Ogier to fight for the win."
Whether this was designed to unsettle the opposition or not or
stoke up some controversy, Kris Meeke rose above it. After two days in Finland,
Northern Ireland's finest extended his lead with one more day to run. Not only
that, Craig Breen ended the day in third place.
At the end of the test, Meeke and Paul Nagle had
beaten Jari-Matti Latvala by a remarkable 13.4 seconds while Been and Scott
Martin who started in fifth place prior to the stage start, emerged in fourth
place!
The day ended with Meeke holding a 41s lead
over second-placed Latvala and despite coming under pressure from M-Sport's Ott
Tänak, Breen held onto third place overall.
At the overnight
halt, Kris said: “Yesterday was my best
day in a WRC. But that wasn’t the case for long, because today has surpassed
it! This morning, I got up an hour early today to watch the video of my recce
on Ouninpohja. I think it’s the greatest stage in the world, and the most
iconic as well. So I was really determined to do something special on it! I
knew Jari-Matti Latvala would try to close the gap so I had to push really
hard… At the end, I felt that I couldn’t have done any more. But I was still
surprised when I found out just how big the gap was! In the afternoon, the rain
tended to improve the grip and I was able to go even quicker, but it wasn’t
quite as exciting as the first pass. We’re now in a good position to see out
the win. We’ll have to stay focused to manage our lead tomorrow and finish the
job we have done over the last two days.”
Leaderboard after 20 (of 24) stages:
1. Kris Meeke /
Paul Nagle (DS 3 WRC) 2:22:00.8
2. Latvala / Anttila (VW Polo R WRC) +41.0
3. Breen / Martin (DS 3 WRC) +1:45.4
4. Tänak / Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:54.5
5. Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:00.9
6. Paddon / Kennard (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:03.6
7. Østberg / Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:06.0
8. Mikkelsen / Jaeger (VW Polo R WRC) +2:24.0
9. Lappi / Ferm (Skoda Fabia R5) +4:23.6
10. Suninen / Markkula (Skoda Fabia R5) +5:10.5
2. Latvala / Anttila (VW Polo R WRC) +41.0
3. Breen / Martin (DS 3 WRC) +1:45.4
4. Tänak / Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:54.5
5. Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:00.9
6. Paddon / Kennard (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:03.6
7. Østberg / Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:06.0
8. Mikkelsen / Jaeger (VW Polo R WRC) +2:24.0
9. Lappi / Ferm (Skoda Fabia R5) +4:23.6
10. Suninen / Markkula (Skoda Fabia R5) +5:10.5
(Thanks to Citroen for the pics)