Ireland's Craig Breen and Paul Nagle have made a good start to the Arctic Rally Finland, the second round of the World Rally Championship (WRC).
After opening two stages in the winter snow event, the Irish crew lie in second place 16.2 seconds behind their Hyundai Team-mate, the Estonian Ott Tanak.
Breen's Hyundai i20 was just 3.6 seconds off the leader after the opening run, the first trip across the Sarriojärvi stage but lost a little time on the second run over the stage which was held in darkness
"Shocking. The last 3km were a huge surprise to me," said a clearly unhappy Breen despite claiming second spot overnight.
"I was missing the front in a few places and I really wasn't trying to protect them because I didn't think I would be losing studs."
Tanak won both stages and takes that lead into Saturday's six stages, on day two of the three day event which is being held without spectators and which is being policed by drones.
Breen was second to Tanak on stage 1, but lost a little time on the second traverse to the Toyota Yaris of Kalle Rovanperä who is now third just 4.2 seconds off the Irishman in third overall.
There are ten stages to be run in total over the three days.
