The seven-race championship series of the rally ended this weekend in Kokkola. Teemu Asunmaa and Jari Huttunen fought a tight battle for the Finnish championship in the final weekend.
Teemu Asunmaa and his map reader Ville Mannisenmäki won the SM1 championship of the royal class of the Rally SM series. The Finnish championship was secured by the second place in the final competition of the season in Kokkola. The one who finished third in the final race Jari Huttunen lost to Asunmaa by two points in the championship points.
– This cannot be put into words. It was a special rally! Like something out of a thriller. There were plot twists every now and then, and in the previous to last clip, the fogging of the glasses meant to completely mix up the deck. The road was the most difficult that I have encountered in my career, Asunmaa commented in his team’s press release after securing the championship.
The experienced won the Kokkola SM rally Juha Salo. The competition was the last of 47-year-old Salo’s active career. The last time he had won the SM rally was in the 2019 season.
This season also competed in the World Rally Championship with a rally2 car Lauri Joona led the SM series before the final weekend. In Kokkola, the 26-year-old driver suffered from his starting position as the first car and ended up fourth. Joona was third in the championship points.
In the Kokkola rally, three special tests were run on Friday and eight on Saturday. After Friday, Asunmaa and Huttunen shared the top spot in the rally. This spoiled the exciting setup for Saturday, as the difference between the two in the SM series was only three points before the final weekend.
On Saturday, in the sixth special stage of the rally, Asunmaa took the top spot alone. Asunmaa led the rally by 12.5 seconds at its best, but in Saturday night’s special tests, Salo got past the undercarriage crash.
Not even the fogging of the glasses in the tenth special test prevented Asunmaa’s championship celebration, but the 36-year-old driver’s smooth season ended with the Finnish championship. During the season, he only interrupted the Eastern Rally in Joensuu in June.
– I would not have thought before the competition that the victory would come out like this. Great feeling, Asunmaa summed up in its press release at the end of Kokkola’s weekend and season.
He drove to the Finnish champion of the SM2 class Benjamin Korhola. He drove to win the class in Kokkola Toni Herranen.
SM1 class
1. Juha Salo 54.57,7
2. Teemu Asunmaa +7.7
3. Jari Huttunen +20.8
4. Lauri Joona +54.6
Final results of the SM series
1. Teemu Asunmaa 122 points
2. Jari Huttunen 120
3. Lauri Joona 119
4. Juha Salo 119