Tanak keeps lead in Arctic Rally as Finland mourns ‘legend’ Hannu Mikkola

ROVANIEMI, Finland: Ott Tanak won three of the six stages on Saturday to maintain his lead in the Arctic Rally.

The Estonian, who drives for Hyundai, complained of tyre issues after finishing second in the last two stages of the day.

“It went to plan. The tyres were quite tired, so it was important to get here without any mistakes,” Tanak said.

On the day that it was announced that Finland’s greatest rally drivers, Hannu Mikkola had died aged 78, the 20-year-old Kalle Rovanpera climbed to second in his home rally, winning the sixth stage of the day.

Tanak leads Toyota’s Rovanpera by 24.9 seconds.

Belgian Thierry Neuville won the last stage of the day by 12.3sec in his Hyundai to close to 1.8sec further back in third.

“It was a really good stage,” said Neuville. “The car was working really nice and I tried to save my tyres throughout the whole stage.”