Ott Tänak stretched his Neste Rally Finland lead to 5.4sec at the midpoint of Friday’s opening leg as his Toyota Gazoo Racing team continued to dominate the early stages.

Stage info: SS4-6 SS4: Urria 1, 12.28km

This is a flat-out classic primarily on wide roads, but book-ended by smaller roads at the beginning and end. Ex-Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen still rates it as his favourite stage, even though he rolled his Ford Focus into a ball here in 2010. Once onto the wide roads, it is full of high-speed corners, jumps and crests which demand bravery and ‘sisu’. Probably best known for its legendary jump which draws huge crowds. SS5: Ässämäki 1, 12.33km

After a straight-forward opening across farmland, a junction left after 5.5km leads into trickier bends, with a tight combination of corners at 11km. But there is nothing too difficult and perhaps the area about which drivers must be most cautions is the opening section which is littered with stones. Unchanged from 2018. SS6: Äänekoski 1, 7.80km

Äänekoski is the most northerly stage of the rally. It’s challenging, with many deceiving and tightening places, so drivers must pay attention in the recce to ensure pin-point accuracy in pace notes. A dropping left corner after 6km is especially tricky as the road disappears, and a field in the background could offer an escape route for those who are too hot. There are plenty of concrete bollards to prevent drivers cutting corners.

Tänak, handicapped by opening the slippery gravel roads in his Yaris, claimed his first fastest time in Ässämäki. That was sandwiched by two wins for team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in Urria and Äänekoski as Yaris cars filled the top three overall.

The Estonian admitted he had not expected to lead from first in the start order.

“For sure not. It has been very demanding with a lot of loose, so really slippery. Luckily we managed to get a good feeling from the start and the flow was good, but I was on the limit all the time. A couple of small mistakes but otherwise it was very smooth and consistent,” he said.

Latvala held second after a fast and furious morning through forests near Jyväskylä. The Finn demoted Kris Meeke by four-tenths in Äänekoski, but both lost time to Tänak in the previous test after left-sided punctures.

Esapekka Lappi maintained his strong start on home territory in fourth in a Citroën C3. He was 1.1sec adrift of Meeke and 2.2sec clear of an impressive Craig Breen, driving a Hyundai i20 for the first time in the WRC.

The Irishman posted a run of three second fastest times and missed out on sharing victory with Latvala in Äänekoski by just a tenth.

World champion Sébastien Ogier completed a top six covered by only 12.6sec in another C3. The Frenchman said: “I’m happy with what I’ve done. The pace that Ott has from first on the road is unbelievable and there’s no way we can match that.”

Andreas Mikkelsen was seventh, 10.0sec ahead of struggling team-mate Thierry Neuville, who planned set-up changes to his i20 in service. “

"I have some ideas to work on. We tested in the rain and perhaps that’s why I missed some speed,” said the Belgian.

Teemu Suninen was more than half a minute off the lead in ninth, after losing his Ford Fiesta’s front splitter early on and haemorraghing up to 0.3sec per kilometre due to the lack of aero.

M-Sport Ford team-mate Gus Greensmith was 10th, despite spinning in Ässämäki.

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