Riku Tahko in love.

All is running smoothly for Riku Tahko on the Rally Finland. After the end of the second day the Finn leads the MINI WRC teams – despite not having been able to properly prepare for the event.

Seven of twelve stages as fastest MINI John Cooper Works WRC driver, and a move of seven places up the overall order on Friday: For Riku Tahko, the rookie driving the MINI WRC, the Rally Finland has been a roaring success. While his marque team-mates Armindo Araujo and Paulo Nobre of the WRC Team MINI Portugal were still seeking their respective rhythms in Finland, Riku disclosed: “I love driving this car.” He was referring to the MINI WRC bearing car number 53, which he is driving in Finland under the banner of Turkey’s TOK Sport Team.

That he has spent the least time of all in the MINI WRC has not prevented him from posting consistently fast results. “I am happy with the car and satisfied with my driving,” he reported after the sixth special stage. Having only received approval from his team to contest the Rally Finland a few weeks before the event, he had been unable to test comprehensively. That he would, however, fall in love with the MINI was clear to Riku while the car was still being prepared ahead of the event. “#Dreamjob” was his Twitter message to his fans. While the 27-year-old Finn still faces a wait for his first World Rally points on his home event, he has clearly left his calling card in readiness for further appearances with the MINI WRC.

Early start for the Rally Finland’s final day.

In the meantime world champion Sébastien Loeb has fought a thrilling head-to-head duel for the overall lead with Mikko Hirvonen. Ahead of the crucial final day of the Rally Finland the two team-mates are separated by just five seconds. Jari-Matti Latvala, Petter Solberg and Mads Ostberg are next up in positions three to five respectively, with each of the trio clearly intent on scoring a podium place.

The third, final and thus decisive day of the Rally Finland starts at 7:56 local time (CEST -1) with the 14,9 kilometre Surkee 1 test. In total the crews face 138,82 timed kilometres on Saturday, spread over six special stages. Comprehensive information and updates on the Rally Finland are available on Facebook.com/MINImotorsport and Twitter.com/MINImotorsport.

Top 5 (After Day 2):

1. Loeb

2. Hirvonen

3. Latvala

4. P. Solberg

5. Ostberg

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