SS7: Ostberg moves in front

Norway’s Mads Ostberg moved up from third overnight to lead Rally Finland after Friday’s opening stage.

The Ford Fiesta RS pilot was second-fastest through the day’s damp opening test, to topple Thierry Neuville from the top spot as the action shifted to the classic forest rally region north of host town Jyvaskyla.

“I felt the pace was not so good but the time is quite okay,” said Ostberg, who holds a 0.8sec lead in the standings over Volkswagen Polo R driver Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier was fourth quickest on the stage and felt he could have done better. “It’s down to me. I’m not pushing,” he said. “I didn’t expect that much grip and I didn’t push enough.”

Neuville is now third, just 1.9sec adrift of the lead. “It started quite well. Maybe I took it a bit steady, but I want to check my notes. So okay, not a great stage but I will get better when I settle into a rhythm,” he said.

Citroen ace Mikko Hirvonen went fastest. After losing a chunk of time on Thursday when his position in the running order meant he was the WRC driver worst affected by a torrential downpour, the Finn took a big step closer to the top three and is now less than five seconds off the lead.

“That’s good,” acknowledged a determined Hirvonen. “I had a good feeling and even though I hit one rock, everything seems okay.”

Juho Hanninen was fifth fastest and felt he could have pushed more, while Kris Meeke continued his impressive Citroen DS3 WRC debut with the sixth quickest time.

After struggling with a wildly oversteering Ford Fiesta RS on day one, Sweden’s P-G Andersson completed Friday’s opener with another serious problem. “The diff broke when I dropped the clutch on the start line so we have only front-wheel drive,” he explained. “We’ll carry on. We’ll drive the stages to work on our notes then try to fix it in service.”

Also in trouble was Hirvonen’s team-mate Dani Sordo, who could only manage twelfth fastest. “I have no confidence with the notes or anything,” he said. “We changed the set-up a little but it feels the same. We have to do something but I don’t know what.”