2026 WRC Round 10, Rally Finland Thursday Stage: Fourmaux Wins Harju Opener, Two Toyotas Joint Third

Rally Finland produced its first official results on Thursday. Fourmaux and Coria completed the Harju super special stage in Jyväskylä in 2m 06.7s, 1.1 seconds ahead of Neuville; Evans and Ogier were both 1.2 seconds behind, setting the joint third-fastest time. All 11 Rally1 cars completed the short, 2.58-kilometre mixed-surface opener, with the gaps still small. Friday’s forest stages will really begin to spread out the overall standings. Katsuta was fastest in the pre-event Ruuhimäki shakedown, whose times do not count towards the rally’s cumulative time.

Thursday morning’s Ruuhimäki shakedown is renowned for its jumps, and Katsuta set the fastest time after three runs. The shakedown’s main value lies in checking suspension settings, take-off and landing points, and how the car feels to drive. Stage conditions, tyre use and approaches to risk are all different from the evening’s Harju stage. Katsuta finished fifth on the official opening stage, 1.8 seconds behind Fourmaux; this showed both that his preparation had not been wasted and that shakedown pace is not the same as rally position. For a rally that will cover hundreds of kilometres through forests, leading the shakedown provides only an initial indication.

Harju is close to Toyota’s team headquarters and the service park. The venue combines different surfaces and has a lively atmosphere, but it is not fully representative of Friday’s high-speed gravel forest roads. Fourmaux put his Hyundai first, with team-mate Neuville second to give Hyundai a Thursday one-two; Evans and Ogier followed with identical times of 2m 07.9s. Pajari was sixth and Solberg seventh, with less than three seconds covering the first seven cars. Any one of Friday’s longer forest stages could produce gaps greater than all the tiny margins established on Thursday.

Ogier’s co-driver for this round is his long-time partner Julien Ingrassia. Regular partner Landais is unable to travel to Finland with the team for personal reasons, so Ingrassia has returned at short notice; the pair won Ogier’s first eight world titles together. The co-driver change does not alter Thursday’s results, but it makes this crew’s high-speed pace-note communication on Friday a particular point of interest.

Lappi was eighth in the top class, Armstrong ninth, McErlean tenth and Sesks eleventh. All 11 Rally1 cars recorded an official opening-stage time on Thursday, with no crews retiring. After the short stage, the first challenge ahead is the succession of jumps and corners on the forest roads.

Friday’s four forest stages will each be run twice before a final return to Harju, making for 127.72 kilometres of timed running on the longest day of this rally. Laukaa will run in reverse, Saarikas returns, and Sydänmaa and Hoho are new stages. Drivers will move from urban mixed surfaces onto high-speed loose gravel and successive jumps, subjecting the settings established in the pre-event shakedown to very different stresses. Evans is concerned about sweeping the surface while opening the road in dry conditions; if rain arrives early, the grip advantage between cars running early and those running later could also be reversed.

The most reliable conclusion from Thursday’s results, then, is that Hyundai took a one-two on the short city stage, Toyota’s leading contenders are close behind, and all 11 top-class cars have officially started the rally. Fourmaux’s 1.1-second advantage is worth recording, but should not be overstated as a winning margin. With longer roads and higher speeds to come, co-drivers’ calls ahead of crests and blind corners, tyre durability in the ruts on the second pass, and differences in when the weather reaches each crew will all play a bigger part than the single short Harju sprint in deciding Friday evening’s positions.

Rally1 Overall Standings After Thursday’s Stage