Yazeed al Rajhi, in his first year of World Rally Car driving, suffered a major crash in Finland

Up the front, Kris Meeke maintained his lead over local hero Jari-Matti Latvala after eleven stages of Rally Finland on Friday (29th July).

Two wins in the opening six stages of the 2016 Rally Finland and Kris Meeke is the man to catch.

The Northern Irish Abu Dhabi Total driver held an 18.8-second advantage over Jari-Matti Latvala.

Yet here in Finland Jari-Matti Latvala's local knowledge was sure to aid the Finn - although a puncture on stage four certainly did not.

Latvala lost just 16 seconds as a result of his mishap - and kept hold of second through the morning.

Defending world champion Sebastien Ogier lurks a further 4.5 seconds back in third.

Into the afternoon, and a game of cat and mouse developed between Meeke and Latvala.

In the trailing pack, there was a World Rally Car novice in Yazeed al Rajhi who was having a tough time on the track in Finland.

Latvala the quicker in the opening stages, only for the Brit to respond with his show of acceleration.

The second pass through Mokkipera was favourable for Meeke who ended up increasing his lead over the Finn by 1.4 seconds to a 20.4 seconds lead going into the weekend.