Tanak rock-solid as Meeke and Latvala come unstuck
Ott Tanak leads the Rally of Finland after an eventful Saturday with Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala coming unstuck after crashing into the same rogue rock. Latvala lost his overnight lead when puncturing the rear left tyre on his Toyota, while his teammate Meeke had to retire when breaking his suspension after striking the same obstacle on stage 14. Images showed the rear wheel ripped from the Northern Irishman's car. The twin drama left Tanak in the third Toyota in control at the end of Saturday's six special stages by 16.4 seconds. Local driver Esapekka Lappi in a Citroen is placed second with Latvala in third. "It was a good day, very clean," said Estonian Tanak who leads the world championships standings. "Yesterday and this morning it was very close but now it's better," added Tanak who is trying to follow up his win in Finland 12 months ago. After losing sleep when feeling sick overnight France's six time world champion Sebastien Ogier kept in the hunt, completing the 19th stage in fifth place, 53sec behind Tanak and only 2.6sec adrift of fourth-placed Andreas Mikkelson. "Honestly I suffered today," said Ogier. "I'm completely dead and all I want to do is go back to bed," he added. "I hope I recover to be able to fight tomorrow." The ninth leg of the 14-rally season winds up with four specials on Sunday culminating in the power stage which sees the first five home get bonus points towards the championship. In the morning Latvala let slip a lead of almost 14sec while Meeke had to retire when placed third. "It happened on a small road at a right corner," said Latvala. "I went a little bit into the ditch but there was a stone the size of a head there." With his tyre changed Latvala, unlike the unfortunate Meeke, was able to continue. Ott Tanak avoids trouble to lead in Finland
