Solberg strengthens WRC2 bid with Rally Finland win

The Swede led this four-day gravel fixture from start to finish and recorded his third victory of the season by 39.0sec over Jari-Matti Latvala, who was making a rare appearance in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 away from his regular duties as the Japanese marque’s team principal.

Solberg and Latvala were relatively closely matched through Friday’s opening leg on roads east of Jyväskylä but, after Latvala dropped around 20sec with a spin on Saturday afternoon, the Swede could afford to cruise through Sunday’s four-stage finale taking minimal risks.

WRC2 drivers can start up to seven rallies, with the best six results counting to their end-of-season score. Solberg has now contested six rounds while his closest title rivals including Sami Pajari, Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin all have events in hand.

“It's a fantastic feeling," Solberg said. "It's been a great weekend. Big thanks to the team, as always the car was good, and it's fantastic to have another win.”

Škoda man Lauri Joona held off a fast-finishing Mikko Heikkilä to claim the final podium spot and victory in the WRC2 Challenger category. Heikkilä, driving a Toyota, missed out on the position by just 2.6sec despite carrying a 10-second time penalty for a late check-in on Saturday.

The GR Yaris cars of Georg Linnamäe and Roope Korhonen completed the top six while Ricardo Triviño, hailing from Mexico, won the WRC Masters Cup.