Tanak and Mikkelsen share early Finland lead

ByAutoSport

Published 28/07/2016 at 18:52 GMT

Ott Tanak and Andreas Mikkelsen share the Rally Finland lead on Thursday evening following the WRC event-opening superspecial around the streets of Jyvaskyla.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

DMACK World Rally Team's Tanak is out for revenge over Mikkelsen, who scooped what was set to be the Estonian's maiden WRC success in Poland last time out.

A penultimate-stage puncture robbed Tanak there, but he was back on form on SS1 in Finland.

Tanak and Volkswagen man Mikkelsen were just a tenth faster than world championship leader Sebastien Ogier on the 1.4-mile test.

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"Poland is history now," said Tanak.

"I was angry, but now I want to go again and push to try to win.

"Obviously I didn't work hard enough last time, so this time I will work even harder."

Prior to the event, Mikkelsen admitted he has always struggled to find a rhythm early on in Finland - but he put that right in his Polo R WRC.

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville was 1.1 seconds behind Ogier with Kris Meeke marking his return to the series after winning in Portugal with fifth fastest time.

Local hero Jari-Matti Latvala was a disgruntled sixth, 2.1s off the front.

"I was not happy with my stage," said Latvala, who became Finland's most experienced WRC driver ever with his 164th start.

"My driving was not right and I was braking too early and having trouble with the gears."

Friday's first full leg features 91 competitive miles across 11 super-fast Finnish stages in a 15-hour day.

SUPERSPECIAL RESULTS:

Finland Rally