The long-awaited Ouninpohja returns to the route of the summer’s Jyväskylä World Rally Championship. Other true classic sections include Ruuhimäki, Päijälä and Myhinpää, as well as Laajavuori, which ends the race.
Micke Suopuro,
Arvo Vuorela
The Jyväskylä World Cup Rally will be held from August 1st to 4th. You can find the full schedule of the rally at the end of this article. As usual, broadcasts the events of the Finnish World Rally Championship from start to finish on Ralliradio and in the moment-by-moment monitoring of the application.
Ouninpohja, Myhinpää, Ruuhimäki, Päijälä, Harju and Laajavuori – this year’s Jyväskylä World Rally Championship will feature real classic special stages of the competition, the roots of which go back decades.
– In my time, there has never been a route with such a name, assistant race director Kari Nuutinen describes to Urheilu.
In recent years, it has become common for the most legendary special stages to tour year after year, but classics on this scale have never been seen on the route at the same time.
Of the special stages returning to the route, the most tickling one is Ouninpohja. Perhaps the most famous rally stage in the world will be run as a traditional version over 30 kilometers for the first time since 2016.
– It’s about the crown jewel of the Finnish World Rally Championship: The Yellow House jump and the Kakaristo crossing – they are the most iconic places in Finnish rally car racing. There are both big and small roads in Ouni, but they are both connected by high speed, Urheilu’s rally expert Henri Haapamäki anneal.
Saturday is a real treat for rally fans, as Päijälä also continues on the route.
Drivers will not be left cold even on Friday, as Myhinpää, which returned to the route last year, will also be driven this summer. Myhinpää is remembered from last year Kalle Rovanperän of a dramatic interruption.
– All Jyväskylä tracks always have their own special features, but it’s a really big deal that these legendary tracks are run under these names and in traditional forms, Haapamäki reminds.
The rally culminates in Laajavuori
The Ruuhimäki special stage, which has been run for many years as the final Power Stage special stage of the entire rally, will also return to the route. This year, however, Ruuhimäki’s turn is already on Friday. In addition, the clip will already be run on Thursday as a different variation as a test special stage of the competition.
Last year the rally ended at Jämsä Himos, but this time the race will be finished a stone’s throw away from the center of Jyväskylä. Laajavuori is returning to the rally for the first time since 2011.
Laajavuori’s return was already close in the summer of 2020, but the rally in question had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
– Laajavuori has been asked a lot for the route and now it is there. As the Power Stage, Laajavuori will be driven in a double round, which means we will see quite a spectacle, says Kari Nuutinen.
The prize distribution of the race will be held next to the service park in the port of Jyväskylä, where the rally will also be started at the start ceremony on Wednesday. Jyväskylä pulsates as the center of the rally throughout the race, because in addition, the Harju city special test continues on the route.
– On Thursday, Harju will be run as a double, i.e. a longer version. On Friday, we will drive once, Nuutinen says.
A brand new special test has also been added to the route. Saarikas, who will be driven in Äänekoski on Friday, is a complete newcomer to the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship.
The total length of the rally is about 305 special test kilometers. More than half of the mileage is new compared to last year.