With his time of 2:45.5 around the city track in Jyväskylä, Oliver Solberg was in joint seventh place when the first of 22 stages were completed.
It was also the real debut in the Finnish rally for Solberg.
- It's a dream come true to drive a WC car in Finland, it's very special.
Tonight I took it easy because it's very easy to make mistakes.
The time doesn't really matter, the rally starts for real tomorrow, Oliver Solberg said immediately after the finish.
SVT's expert Jonas Kruse thought it was a good start to the rally for Oliver Solberg.
- I thought it looked good, I thought he had good speed and has a perfectly good time so far.
Teammates at the top
Somewhat surprisingly, it was Oliver Solberg's teammates in Hyundai, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak, who drove into first and second place respectively in the first leg.
The team that has struggled with the car and often ended up behind, for example, Finn Harri Rovanperä in Toyota.
- No, it won't happen overnight.
We just have to accept it.
At this point we are fighting so hard with the car, which lives a bit of its own life, said Ott Tänak when asked if Hyundai can give Toyota a fight for the top positions this WC.