ꦆBreen ended the opening day of Rally Finland strongly, leapfroggin𒀰g team-mate Ott Tanak on the day’s deciding test to carry a 2.8 seconds buffer going into Saturday.

The Irishman r🍸ecorded the third fastest time through ‘Oittila’ despite his vision being impaired by the lamp pod on the bonnet of his car that was not, as he put it, “100%”.

That led him and co-driver Paul Nagle to miss a handful of ju😼nctions towards the start – but he refused to allow that to oversha𝔉dow their overall performance.

“It sounds pretty good to be rally leader this evening,” said Breen☂, who has given himself a solid foundation on which he can build towards a first WRC victory this weekend.

“We have had an amazinജg day and I’v🙈e enjoyed every second of it. The stages are really nice, and especially the final one in the dark.

“The later runners we♔re a bit more in darkness, and I actually had some moments at the start,” he added. “We lost a bit of rhythm, missed a couple of junctions but nothing terrible. I enjoyed the last part inside the forest, and it was nice to see the time at the end.”

With less than eight seconds separ🦩ating the top five cars, Breen admitted he requires another herculean effort on round ten to stay out in front. “I think everyone is going to find a little somethin🍌g extra tomorrow,” he said, “so we’ll try to take any opportunity that comes our way.”

Tanak echoed those sentiment𝔍s and with the i20 Coupe WRC now to his liking after a disastrous pre-event test led to a wrong set-up call f🧸or Friday’s opener, he is now focused on a third straight Rally Finland triumph.

“It has been a surprisingly good day and very consi𝐆stent. On the small narrow roads, we were a bit handicapped and lost a lot, but on the fast and flowing parts we were on the pace,” he said.

“The improvements in the car on these fast 🌠roads are down to the efforts of th🅘e team, who have been working hard; they’ve done their job well and the performance here is better than it has been for them in the past.

“Tomorrow, we have some tough stages 🍌and a long loop, so it’s definitely going to be the big day of the weekend,” he 🐻added.