Solberg supreme in WRC2 on Friday

The Swede, who currently lies third in the championship standings, is already on the path towards claiming his second WRC2 victory of the season after he romped to fastest times on six of Friday’s seven super-fast stages, ending 31.1sec clear of closest challenger Mikko Heikkilä.

Despite dominating the timesheets, however, Solberg struggled with a lack of traction leading to plenty of slides throughout the day, and he even dialled back his speed in the afternoon to compensate for it.

“I've been happy with the driving all day, but the feeling in the car is a different feeling,” revealed the youngster. “[I’ve been] trying to take care of the tyres and just be clean.”

Heikkilä, driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 for what is his second WRC outing of the season, was engaged in a tight scrap with Josh McErlean in the morning. Their duel came to an end when the Irishman ran wide and rolled his Škoda on SS6, dropping more than a minute as spectators pushed the car back onto its wheels.

McErlean’s mishap opened the door for Rally Poland winner Sami Pajari to claim third. He trailed fellow Finn Heikkilä – who also led the WRC2 Challenger category in his similar car – by 8.6sec but was frustrated not to have been more competitive.

“I am telling the same story every time - I hope tomorrow we can find a new story to tell,” Pajari said. “I was trying to push, but I think Solberg is one step forward from where he was and we are one step back. We are ages behind.”

Paraguay’s Fau Zaldivar placed fifth in another Škoda while William Creighton, driving an M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2, was sixth. In the WRC Masters Cup, Armin Kremer built a sizeable lead of almost three minutes over Mauro Miele, who stopped briefly on SS6.

Joosep Nõgene was more than 10 minutes clear of Kerem Kazaz in WRC3 after Kazaz damaged his car’s front suspension on Thursday night’s opening stage in Rīga.