Jari-Matti Latvala leads Rally Finland in WRC after first day

Latvala, who trails defending champion Ogier by 50 points in the World Rally Championship standings, won the opening two stages of Thursday's racing.

The 29-year-old Finn also shared the third stage with Ogier after the duo posted identical times, with the Frenchman then gaining eight tenths of a second in the final run in Harju after Latvala clipped a hay bale.

Latvala now holds a 4.5-second lead heading into Friday, where nine stages will be contested.

Speaking on his minor incident on stage four, Latvala told wrc.com: "There was a chicane with a straw bale on the inside. I cut it too much and hit the bale, but it was nothing too serious."

Citroen's Kris Meeke (+9.2secs) still has the Volkswagen duo in his sights - the Northern Irishman making a fine start as he battles with team Mads Ostberg to keep his drive with the team next season.

Juho Hanninen (Hyundai) had looked set to finish the day fourth but lost 15 seconds in a difficult penultimate stage and he now sits between fellow Finn Mikko Hirvonen (M-Sport Ford) and Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen), who are fourth and sixth.