The Central Asian athlete led
home a diverse leaderboard which incredily saw the top 13 positions filled out
by drivers of 13 different nationalities.
Moving into the lead with a stage
win on SS7, the Ford Fiesta Rally3 pilot held onto it through the day’s three
remaining stages, eventually finishing 20.7sec ahead of Renault Clio Rally3
driver Mattéo Chatillon and a further 13.1sec up on Ireland’s Eamonn Kelly.
The story of Friday morning had
been about local driver Henri Hokkala, who developed a healthy 18.1 sec lead
over Estonia's Romet Jürgensson through the rally’s opening five
stages.
However, perhaps showing his inexperience on only his second WRC start, 29-year-old Hokkala came unstuck on the first
running of Ruuhimäki and rolled. Jurgensson got stuck in a ditch on the same stage, allowing Australia’s Taylor Gill to move
into the lead.
Having relocated to Finland in
order to further his rallying career, 20-year-old Gill was reveling in his adopted
home conditions, only for mud trapped in his Fiesta’s radiator on SS7 causing the car to overheat. It forced a cautious drive through the stage and Gill dropped to sixth.
He will spend Saturday attempting
to catch local hope Jesse Kallio who is just 3.3sec ahead of him in fifth
whilst Ali Türkkan sits in fourth despite incurring a 10sec penalty.
Europe
Poland
China