The World Rally Championship in Catalonia ended with a Finnish celebration, when Toyota, which operates in central Finland, won the manufacturers’ championship again. Sebastien Ogier hit, on the other hand, with his amazingly superior performance. Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä were left to other podium places.
Even in the lower categories, there were great Finnish performances.
‘s rally editor Tomi Tuominen and expert Henri Haapamäki review the hottest topics of the race weekend.
1. The Finnish winning team is incomprehensible as a story – “It’s worth it for the fans to make the most of it”
For Toyota, the manufacturers’ championship in the World Rally Championship was now the second in a row.
Toyota came Tommi Mäkinen led to the World Series in 2017. Under Mäkinen’s leadership, there was one team championship and two drivers’ championships. Mäkinen moved to the side before the 2021 season.
The former driver of the stable became the team manager Jari-Matti Latvala. Toyota is currently managed by four bosses: the sports director Kaj LindströmTechnical Director Tom Fowler and project manager Yuichiro Haruna.
Latvala’s season as team manager has been a jackpot. Last year, too, there was both the drivers’ championship and the team championship. Now the same trick was repeated. The champion driver just changed from Ogier to Rovanpera.
On Sunday, Latvala, Lindstöm and Rovanperä praised their talented and passionate team. Success has resulted from hard work and professionalism. Expert Haapamäki is on the same lines.
– Toyota has taken serious steps towards the World Series. There are open-minded hiring of players from other sports outside of rallying, Haapamäki praises the special feature of the team.
According to Haapamäki and Tuominen, in the past decades, it would not have been possible to even imagine that Finland would run the champion team of the World Rally Championship.
– As a story, this is incomprehensible. Although the brand championship is not talked about among the normal rally audience and it does not excite the normal rally fan. For the team’s staff, the championship is of course a big deal, Haapamäki states.
– Yes, Finnish rally fans should take all the joy out of this, because the team is based in Finland and operates in Finland. The joy of the championship can also be seen in the service park. Everyone hugs each other. The champagne is spilling, Tuominen, on the other hand, says.
Toyota’s fiercest competitor, Hyundai, has had enough of a lot of drama, especially this year. Talia has led Andrea Adamon after leaving, temporary team manager for the whole season Julien Moncet.
Star drivers Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak have opened up about their weak car and teased each other as well. A talent compared to Rovanperä in his time Oliver Solberg got his starting passes in the middle of the season after fluctuating performances.
After the Catalunya rally on Sunday evening, Tänak announced that he would not continue with Hyundai.
Moncet stated in an interview with before the Catalan World Rally Championship that Hyundai’s difficulties are due to the late completion of the new hybrid car just before the start of the season.
Haapamäki and Tuominen believe that Hyundai’s counterattack against Toyota is yet to be seen. In the fall, Hyundai took three wins in a row, with Tänak winning in Jyväskylä and Belgium and Neuville one more in Greece.
– From Jyväskylä onwards, Hyundai has started to move. I think Hyundai will give a tough resistance to Toyota next year and why not already in the final race of the season in Japan, says Tuominen.
– If we get the bits right, Hyundai can drive for the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. Yes, Tänak could have had the opportunity to fight for the championship this year as well, Haapamäki reminds.
2. Enni Mälkönen made history, a rare Finnish championship pot coming in the World Series? “That would be quite a feat”
If the World Rally Championship season has been a jackpot for middle Finns, it has also been a jackpot for Finns in general. in Catalonia Sami Joona took the WRC3 class title. Before the start of the race, on the other hand, there was already a party Enni Mälkönen map reader championship in the same class. Sami Pajarin the map reader got the most points, while Joona and his fiercest competitor Jan Cerny recycled karts.
Mälkönen’s championship was historic, because never before in any WRC class has a woman won the championship.
– It was a surprise that I got the ceremonies already on the starting stage here, said Mälkönen, who competed with Pajar in the WRC2 class in Catalonia.
– I have to say that this championship leaves almost speechless. It’s been a pretty great year.
This year there is actually a chance for a huge Finnish triple. Namely in Catalonia Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen cheated themselves of a good chance for the WRC2 class championship.
Before the end of the season, the duo is second in the class and five points behind Andreas Mikkelsen. The Norwegian can no longer collect points because he has already raced the maximum number of races in the class. The Finns are competing against Poland for the championship Kajetan Kajetanowciz against. He is tied for points before the final race in Japan.
– It would be pretty straight forward if there was a championship in every class. It starts to taste like the golden age of the 1980s, when there are only Finnish flags in the statistics, Haapamäki states.
However, Haapamäki regrets that it has been difficult to follow the small classes.
– The point systems of the lower classes are really, really complicated. Even if you follow the rally, it is really difficult to count and follow the small classes. You can choose which rallies you go to and where you get points, Haapamäki states.
A triple would be very rare. Kalle Rovanperä and his map reader Jonne Halttunen brought the world rally championship to Finland after a 20-year hiatus. in the WRC2 class Esapekka Lappi won the championship in 2016 and Juho Hänninen in its predecessor in the S2000 class in 2011.
Sure, Rovanperä won the WRC2 Pro championship and collected the most points among drivers in the WRC2 class in 2019, but at that time the classes were a bit funny and underlining Haapamäki’s point, they were divided separately. The current WRC3 class is being run for the third year now. In the first season, he won the championship Jari Huttunen.
According to Haapamäki, the championships in the lower classes are of great importance.
– When we start building the next season, they are hard currency. If you can title yourself as a champion to your partners, that is a harder currency than you can imagine, Haapamäki states.
3. ‘s experts throw out a huge speculation: Will the old champion Ogier return to drive the entire World Series?
However, Sebastien Ogier, who dominated the race, was the biggest name in the Catalan World Rally Championship. The eight-time world champion stopped touring the full World Series last year, but has driven a few races this season and shared Toyota’s third car with Lapland. A stinging second place in Monte Carlo, an exit in Portugal and fourth place in Kenya.
Now, in the first full-blooded asphalt race of the World Cup rally season, we saw the old champion’s performance. The 38-year-old Ogier dominated the race and even won the Power Stage.
– I would have expected that Kalle would be able to put in the shots better. Ogier then twisted himself to the top, Haapamäki smokes.
Ogier was only the second driver this season to grab a full points pot from a single race.
After Ogier’s performance, speculations about what will happen next season started immediately. Would Ogier still be interested in driving a full World Series? It is at least likely that Ogier will drive a Toyota in the season opener in Monte Carlo.
Haapamäki speculates that Ogier could return to drive a full program in the World Series.
– I’m starting to get the feeling that Ogier is experimenting a bit to see if the speed is enough against Kalle. Let’s do the same trick in Japan, Haapamäki speculates and refers to the final race of the season.
– I bet that Ogier’s hunger has grown after watching Kalle and his hype. Kalle is now considered almost invincible. He has made great results. Such an old master will surely think about putting the boy aside and showing who is the tallest.
Tuominen witnessed on the spot how old Ogier was seen in Catalonia.
– You could see such a flame in Ogier’s eyes in interviews and behind the wheel of the car that you can see what kind of future he has in the sport. If we had to guess now, this rally fired up Ogier. Of course, I don’t think that Ogier himself knows what the facts are about his continuation, Tuominen says.
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