According to rally manager Timo Jouhki, Teemu Suninen will also drive Hyundai’s Rally1 car after the Estonian and Finnish races. Kalle Rovanperä’s contract negotiations have also progressed.
If you want, you can listen to Timo Jouhki’s interview on the player below.
The title of the most Finnish team in the World Rally Championship has been firmly in the hands of Toyota since 2017. However, on Friday, Hyundai became the “challenger” of the team still managed by hand from Finland.
After all, the stable announced that they had washed it that way Teemu Suninen than by Emil Lindholm its driver development program. Thus, the team already has three Finnish drivers on the payroll, as they drive the team’s second car Esapekka Lappi.
Suninen will return to the main class at least in the World Rally Championships in Estonia and Finland, i.e. in the races where the team’s Spanish champion Dani Sordo is not participating. Suninen has already tested a Rally1 car, but success in fast gravel races like Finland and Estonia requires more kilometers on the meter.
Manager Timo Jouhkin according to Suninen, in addition to the tests, he may also participate in a “small competition” before the World Rally Championship in Estonia or Jyväskylä.
However, according to the Manager, Suni has no need to succeed in Estonia and Finland.
– The intention is that Teemu will be at Hyundai for at least the next year and a half, Jouhki tells Urheilu.
Hyundai 2024: Neuville, Lapland and Suninen?
Although Suninen, 29, was selected for Hyundai’s development program, he is no longer young and inexperienced by the standards of the rally world. Meritorious as a factory driver, Suninen has achieved three podium places in the World Championship. The last time he drove in the main class in Monza 2021 was behind the wheel of a Hyundai.
All in all, Suninen already has 80 MM rallies under his belt. He is therefore a strong candidate to drive for Hyundai in the future as well.
– Sordo may not drive again next year, so the scenario could be that these two Finnish drivers and maybe a third guy will share the responsibility of the third driver next season, Jouhki thinks.
– Of course, nothing has been agreed exactly yet, but the intention is along these lines. The purpose of the development program is to develop the driver into a standard driver, he continues.
Kalle Rovanperä’s contract negotiations near the finish line
In the rumours, Jouhki’s other protégé has also been connected to Hyundai’s camp. World Champion Kalle Rovanperän the contract with Toyota expires at the end of the current season. However, Toyota has assured that Rovanperä will remain in the team in the future.
According to Jouhki, Rovanperä’s contract negotiations are close to the finish line.
– The negotiations are at a good stage. I can’t say when the contract will be published, but things will definitely be agreed upon in the near future, says Jouhki.
Emil Lindholm has a delicious situation
According to Jouhki, Teemu Suninen will still race in the future also at the wheel of the Rally2 car, the development of which he is still continuing. He is being pushed by Lindholm, who seems to have inherited Suninen’s place in Hyundai’s WRC2 team.
– Teemu’s position has been a clear salary position this year. No money has been brought in. I don’t know Emil’s contract, but I have understood that it is very similar, i.e. it goes to Hyundai, Jouhki explains.
Lindholm, who won the WRC2 championship last season, has toured the World Cup rallies in the Toksport team in the new Skoda Rally2 car.
– Yes, he was there as a test driver, but like driving in the name of Toksport, it’s a paid job that the sponsors have paid for. Now the money doesn’t go out, but in. In this way, he clearly gets access to a much better whole than with Skoda and Toksport, Jouhki explains.