The 2018 Rally Finland (formally known as the Neste Rally Finland 2018) was a motor racing event for rally cars that held over four days between 26 and 29 July 2018.[1] It marked the sixty-eighth running of Rally Finland, and was the eighth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships, and the fourth round of the Junior WRC championship.[2][3] The event was based in Jyväskylä in Central Finland and consisted of twenty-three special stages totalling 317.26 km (197.14 mi) in competitive kilometres.[4]
The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, and the World Rally Championship-3. The final entry list consisted of twelve World Rally Car entries, eighteen in the World Rally Championship-2, and another eighteen entries in the World Rally Championship-3, fifteen of which were eligible to score points in the Junior World Rally Championship.
Friday witnessed a great fight between Ott Tänak, who drove a Yaris, and Mads Østberg, who drove a C3. After rally leader changed several times, the Estonian ended the day with a 5.8-second lead. Local Finn Jari-Matti Latvala completed the day in third, with Hayden Paddon led Hyundai in fourth position after Teemu Suninen fell back in the final stage of the day with brake issues in his Fiesta. Title contender Sébastien Ogier, who was second on the road, climbed up to sixth overall after Ford gave his teammate Elfyn Evans a team order, which ordered him to slow down in SS10 before reaching the finish line. Defending rally winner Esapekka Lappi, who stalled his car at the opening stage of the day, cleared the day in eighth place, while Craig Breen, who suffered an early puncture and a late fuel pressure issue, completed the day in ninth. Championship leader Thierry Neuville, who struggled for grip all the day due to being first on the road, completed the leaderboard. Teammate Andreas Mikkelsen finished down the order after rolling his i20.
Saturday in Rally Finland was dominated by three Yarises. Ott Tänak, who stormed away with a 39-second over Mads Østberg, Jari-Matti Latvala, who closed the gap the Norwegian to only 5.4 seconds, and Esapekka Lappi, who climbed up four places after his effort, took all eight stage victories of the day to make Toyota a 1-3-4 finish. Hayden Paddon, who led Hyundai in fifth place, manage to stay ahead of local Finn Teemu Suninen despite brake problems and high tyre wear. Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier, who struggled to come to terms with new shock absorbers and an upgraded aerodynamic package, and teammate Elfyn Evans cleared the day in seventh and eighth respectively, while Craig Breen completed the day in ninth overall in another C3. Championship leader Thierry Neuville, who failed to make up yesterday's lost time, completed the leaderboard in tenth place.
Sunday
Ott Tänak took his second rally victory of the season with a Power Stage win in Finland to gain a maximum thirty points after a master-class performance.[13]Mads Østberg edged Jari-Matti Latvala by only 2.8 seconds to finish second overall. Hayden Paddon completed the rally in fourth place after defending rally winner Esapekka Lappi went off in SS20.[14]Sébastien Ogier climbed up to fifth place after Ford gave another team order to Teemu Suninen, who was ordered to check in late at a time control so that he was given a 20-second time penalty and dropped behind his five-time world champion teammate in sixth. Elfyn Evans finished in seventh in another Fiesta, followed by Craig Breen in eighth. Championship leader Thierry Neuville ended his rally ahead of his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen in ninth place. Despite an unsatisfied outcome, he still leads the championship by twenty-one points over the defending world champion.
Classification
Top ten finishers
The following crews finished the rally in each class's top ten.[a]
The following notable crews retired from the event.[a] Under Rally2 regulations, they were eligible to re-enter the event starting from the next leg. Crews that re-entered were given an additional time penalty.
