Elfyn Evans holds third place at Rally Finland despite rolling his Toyota on Saturday, while Sebastien Ogier was taken to hospital after crashing out of the lead.
Nine-time champion Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia had a big accident on stage 17 – Saturday’s penultimate stage – after they ran wide on a fast, right-hand corner and their Toyota crashed into trees.
The stage was stopped and an update from Toyota said both Ogier and Ingrassia got out of the car “unassisted”, and were taken to hospital for checks but were “conscious and generally OK”.
Sami Pajari, who won his first rally at the previous round in Estonia, inherited first place from Ogier and leads his home event with two stages remaining on Sunday.
The Finnish driver holds an advantage of 46.4 seconds over Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg, while Evans moved into third place ahead of Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux after setting the fastest time on Saturday’s final stage.
Wales’ Evans and co-driver Scott Martin, who lead the standings in search of their first WRC title, were lucky to escape on stage 14 when they ran wide on a corner and their Toyota rolled over three times before getting stuck in a ditch.
Despite extensive damage, they only lost two minutes after being helped out of the ditch by spectators, and team mechanics repaired the GR Yaris at service for the afternoon’s four stages.
“I just have to say a huge thanks to the guys for lunchtime, it was a huge effort after my mistake this morning,” Evans said after Saturday’s final stage.
“And, even more importantly, we’re obviously hoping for the best for Seb and Juulien. Obviously they had a big one, so our thoughts are with them and hope that they are recovering well”.
Motorsport Ireland’s Josh McErlean is in seventh place, just behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, but his M-Sport team-mate Martins Sesks was another driver to fall victim of the Finnish roads when he crashed on stage 14.
McErlean finished fourth on the road in for his best WRC finish in Greece, but dropped to sixth with a penalty and a technical issue in Estonia ruined any chance of backing up that result.
Northern Ireland’s Jon Armstrong continued on Saturday after an accident on the second stage on Friday but runs well outside the points for M-Sport.
Rally Finland standings (after stage 18/20)
1. Sami Pajari FIN/Marko Salminen FIN (Toyota) 2:00.38.0
2. Oliver Solberg SWE/Elliott Edmundson GB (Toyota) +46.6 seconds
3. Elfyn Evans GB/Scott Martin GB (Toyota) +1:36.3
4. Adrien Fourmaux FRA/Alex Coria FRA (Hyundai) +1:40.1
5. Takamoto Katsuta JPN/Aaron Johnston IRL (Toyota) +2:54.5
6. Thierry Neuville BEL/Martijn Wydaeghe BEL (Hyundai) +3:52.9
7. Josh McErlean IRL/Eoin Treacy IRL (M-Sport Ford) +3:54.4
….
49. Jon Armstrong IRL/Shane Byrne IRL (M-Sport Ford) +1:20.57.6
DNF. Sebastien Ogier FRA/Julian Ingrassia FRA (Toyota)
DNF. Martins Sesks LAT/Francis Renars LAT (M-Sport Ford)
DNF. Esapekka Lappi FIN/Enni Malkonen FIN (Hyundai)
