Rovaniemi (Finland) (AFP)

Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai) won Sunday the Arctic Rally, the second round of the WRC world championship contested behind closed doors in Finland, ahead of Finland's Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) who took the lead in the WRC championship. pilots.

Tänak, 2019 world champion, wins this unprecedented round in the WRC after a perfectly started race on Friday, through the snow-covered forests of Lapland.

His teammate, the Belgian Thierry Neuville, in the fight with Rovanperä for second place, completed the podium.

"We had a very good weekend, nothing too much, just one mistake yesterday," commented Ott Tänak at the end of the last special.

If he never managed to overtake the Estonian in the general classification, Kalle Rovanperä, 20, still signed the good operation of the weekend by temporarily seizing the lead of the drivers' championship - recovering at the pass 5 additional points in the classification in the closing Power Stage.

The reigning world champion, the French Sébastien Ogier, finished far behind, more than 10 minutes from the lead, due to an exit from the road.

200 meters from the finish of the last special on Saturday, Ogier finished his race in a wall of snow.

He crossed the finish line about twenty minutes later.

Off the road, this second round of the championship was marked by the announcement on Saturday of the death at the age of 78 of Finnish rally legend Hannu Mikkola, world champion in 1983.

Many personalities of motorsport, such as the President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Jean Todt or the world champions Carlos Sainz, Sébastien Ogier and Petter Solberg, have paid tribute to him.

The Arctic Rally replaced the Swedish Rally, which was canceled due to a pandemic.

© 2021 AFP