A total of 45 car companies have registered for the Finnish World Rally Championship in August. There is enough domestic interest in all categories.
Race director of the Finnish World Rally Championship, i.e. Secto Rally Finland Kai Tarkiainen is satisfied with the list of those who signed up, considering the world situation. In the royal class, i.e. Rally1, 12 hybrid rally cars start the race.
– It looks good, 12 cars for this class is probably the maximum available, Tarkiainen states.
The headquarters of the Toyota rally team is in Jyväskylä and the drivers also have a strong domestic representation. They go to the race with Toyota Kalle Rovanperä, Esapekka Lappi and Elfyn Evans. In addition, Toyota will start the race Takamoto Katsuta.
M-Sport or Ford will arrive in Jyväskylä with a total of five Rally1 cars. Jari Huttunen is certainly the driver that the Home Audience follows with the greatest interest.
– Jari has done such a good job in the smaller classes in recent years that he definitely deserves a place to show his speed in the bigger class as well, says Tarkiainen.
Ford’s other drivers are Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith, Adrian Fourmaux and Pierre-Louis Loubet.
Those driving Hyundai in the Rally1 class Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Oliver Solberg.
There are enough Finns in the Rally2 class
Many interesting Finns drive in the Rally2 class, such as Emil Lindholm, Teemu Suninen, Teemu Asunmaa, Erik Pietarinen, Mikko Heikkilä and Junior World Champion participating in the second World Rally of his career with Rally2 equipment Sami Pajari.
Among others, Estonia, which is touring the SM series, will challenge them Egon Kaur and a New Zealand driver familiar to the Finnish rally audience.
– Hayden Paddon makes a return to rally tracks. Has run a couple of races and is now participating in Finland. Nice to see the man on the line again, Kai Tarkiainen is happy.
Paddon has achieved one victory in his WRC career.
Finnish power also in the Rally3 class
There is also a strong Finnish representation in the Rally3 class. As drivers Lauri Joona, Toni Herranen, Tommi Heino and Henri Timonen.
In total, there are 45 cars registered for the race, before the corona there were 70–80 cars.
– Corona is still biting, this is the world situation at the moment. The competitors’ financial resources are certainly smaller than before, says Tarkiainen.
In addition to the actual MM classes, the Vetomies class is also familiarly seen in the race. Almost 100 car municipalities have signed up for it.
The Finnish World Rally Championship will be held on the 4th-7th. August. shows every special exam live in Areena.