Kris Meeke of the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, moved into third place on Friday after four short stages at Rally Finland.
The competition opened in wind and rain, but Meeke seemed untroubled by it.
He was second-fastest on the opening stage and ended the day less than 10 seconds behind the leader, Jari-Matti Latvala and Sebastien Ogier, with a comfortable gap behind him to fourth place.
“I’m pleased to be right in the middle of the fight for first place,” said the 36-year-old Briton from Northern Ireland.
“For the time being my goal is not to try and win stages.
“I hope I can get to the end of the rally without any problems, while staying in touch with the leaders.
“I feel that I’m improving and things are coming together. The new stages coming up are going to be very interesting.”
Day 1 in the woods near Helsinki offered a mix of fast and technical sections. It started on a wide road in a protected historical area and the first 9.6 kilometres were made up of the sort of fast, roller-coaster conditions for which the Finnish race is known.
Mads Ostberg, driver of the second Abu Dhabi car, was seventh after the first race, and was headed for a meeting with the technical crew to see if they could find more speed.
“I was quite happy during the first few kilometres, but the times didn’t bear out my feeling in the car,” the Swede said.
“We tried to adjust the set-up between each stage without really finding a solution.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with today’s leg. Although I know there’s still a long way to go in the rally.
“We’ll just have to work our way up the standings.”
Ogier, the Frenchman and defending world champion, leads in the season standings, ahead of Latvala. Andreas Mikkelson of Sweden is third, with Ostberg fourth. Meeke is seventh, behind Mikko Hirvonen and Belgium’s Thierry Neuville.
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