SEBASTIEN Ogier claimed a surprise Secto Rally Finland victory on Sunday after his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Kalle Rovanperä rolled on the event’s penultimate stage while leading.

Rovanperä had led for almost every kilometre of this four-day gravel fixture and looked set to end Finland’s seven-year wait for a native winner with a 45.8sec advantage going into the rally’s penultimate stage.

However, it all went wrong for the 23-year-old when he clipped a rogue rock, pushing his GR Yaris Rally1 off the line and into a rally-ending roll.

The same stage had earlier served up further drama when Rovanperä’s colleague, Elfyn Evans, also left the road while chasing down Super Sunday points to make up for a broken driveshaft on Saturday.

Dolgellau’s Evans said: “Unfortunately we had an accident right at the beginning of the penultimate stage.

“I’d managed the corner OK on the first pass, but I had a bit of understeer in the ruts the second time around and ran out of road.

“We knew it was a tricky corner, but it was more down to the way the car reacted in the rut than the speed.

“It was a costly mistake on my part and a weekend that went from bad to worse – but this is motorsport and these things happen.

“There are four rounds to go in the championship and everything is still open, so we’ll continue to give our all until the very end.”

Rovanperä pulled away from his competition on Saturday and looked on course to take the first home victory of his career and a third consecutive win on fast gravel roads.

That was until one of the last corners of the penultimate stage on Sunday, when Rovanperä’s car hit a large rock in a high-speed left-hander and was sent crashing into the trees.

Thankfully, both Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were unhurt, demonstrating the strength of the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.

Ogier, along with co-driver Vincent Landais, also performed strongly on his first appearance in the FIA World Rally Championship’s fastest rally for nearly three years: there was just 0.1 seconds separating the team’s multiple world champions Rovanperä and Ogier over the 32.98 kilometres of the returning legendary Ouninpohja stage on Saturday morning.

The Frenchman takes his second Rally Finland victory, his first since 2013, and joins Sébastien Loeb, Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans as the only drivers from outside Finland to win the event more than once.

Ogier also climbs up to second in the drivers’ championship, 27 points from the lead, after claiming three wins and three second places from his six rally starts so far in 2024.

Evans appeared set to boost his own championship hopes when he was running in second on Saturday morning until a damaged driveshaft caused him to drop outside of the points positions.

On the final day he set out to recover as many points as possible from the Super Sunday classification, but unfortunately crashed out at the start of what would be a tough penultimate stage for the team. Again, he and co-driver Scott Martin were thankfully unharmed.