2019 Rally Finland

Championship standings prior to the event Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by three-points ahead of defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further three points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a forty-four-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen held a thirteen-point lead ahead of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were third, another thirteen points further back. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport and M-Sport Ford WRT tied with same points, with Citroën Total sixty-one points behind in third. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by eighteen points respectively. Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais were second, following by Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson in third. Entry list The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro, Junior World Rally Championship and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-five entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and thirteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Three crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further fourteen entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship. Route There were no significant changes to the route for the 2019 event outside some slight length reductions to selected stages. Itinerary . All dates and times are EEST (UTC+3). ==Report==

World Rally Cars Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin were entered by M-Sport Ford WRT, but were later withdrawn when Evans was injured contesting Rally Estonia as part of their pre-event preparations. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were withdrawn from the WRC 2-Pro category and re-entered in Evans' and Martin's place. Hayden Paddon and John Kennard were entered into the rally by M-Sport Ford WRT, but they were withdrawn after a heavy crash during testing that caused irreparable damage their car. It was a drama-free Friday for front runners, with Jari-Matti Latvala took a narrow lead into the second leg. However, the local Finn punctured his rear-left tyre in a right-hand corner, which dropped him down to third. Teammate Kris Meeke also ran into trouble at the same corner, but damage to the rear-left suspension forced the Northern Irishman retired from the day. Despite re-entering the rally on the final day, he still had to retire as he stopped again when he hit a rock. Gus Greensmith's rally ended his rally on SS20 after crashing into a tree. The rally was easily won by Ott Tänak, who won his tenth rally in his WRC career as well as winning his 200th stage victory during the event. Kalle Rovanperä was comfortable in the lead and collected his fourth straight WRC-2 Pro victory. Roland Poom and Jürgen Heigl was the two major retirements in the second leg. Dennis Rådström could have taken some good points from the event, but the crash in the penultimate stage means he was thirty-four points off the lead. Compatriot Tom Kristensson took the victory with eight stage victories to retake the championship lead. Classification Special stages Championship standings ==Notes==