The fast rally section of the season is underway for sure with this year’s visit to the beautiful and quick roads in Finland. Elfyn and Scott increased their lead in the championship at the end of the last event in Estonia and will open the road again on Friday’s stages.

In terms of the stages, this year sees the crews face twenty stages over 316 kilometres. Thursday has shakedown in the morning with the first stage in the evening, then Friday sees stages two to ten totalling almost 128 kilometres. Then Saturday has stages eleven to eighteen totalling just over 126 kilometres and then Sunday has just the final two stages of 30 kilometres each giving a 60-kilometre total final day.

Let’s hear from the drivers!

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Finland is one of my favourite events on the calendar. It’s an amazing sensation to drive these Rally1 cars on those roads, and in terms of pure driving thrills, nothing else beats it during the season. You need to be able to find a good rhythm and a good feeling with the car to be competitive, but when everything’s working well, it can give you great confidence and enjoyment behind the wheel. I’m looking forward to it as always and hoping for some conditions that are more in our favour and enable us to be in the fight from the start of the weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Rally Finland is like a second home rally for me. I moved to Finland when I started rallying and learned pretty much everything I know there, and I still have many friends in Jyväskylä. I have many great memories from the rally – I made my WRC debut there 10 years ago – and to finish second to Kalle last year was very special for me. I was very happy that he could win, but I hope I can go one better. It’s a very demanding rally: you have to be fully committed straight away, and you need full trust in your pacenotes and the car. But I have a good feeling and will try my best.”

Sami Pajari

“To win Rally Estonia was amazing, and a feeling that is still sinking in. There was not much time to celebrate or relax, as two days after the rally we were already testing for Rally Finland. Like Estonia, this is one of my favourite rallies, but it’s even more special to be able to compete at home in front of all my family and friends and a lot of fans cheering for us. The stages are beautiful, and I really enjoy driving them. Many will be expecting that we can win again; we can’t underestimate the competition, but we of course hope that we can make it happen. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Finland is one of the homes of rallying and one of the most enjoyable rallies to drive. It’s also one of the most challenging to win, especially against fast drivers from the north of Europe, and it’s a big honour to have been able to achieve that a couple of times in my career. Rally Estonia was not easy for us driving on those roads for the first time after five years away, but at Rally Finland we will have a higher target in mind as I’ve been there the last two years and been competitive, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“Rally Finland is something very special. It’s a rally that every driver wants to win at some point in their career because it’s such a unique challenge. The way that the stages flow, with the speed and the crests and the jumps, feels amazing. I’ve had some good rallies there in the past in Rally2 cars, but I’m sure that my first Rally Finland driving for TGR-WRT as the home team, in such a great car in such a fast rally, will be my most special experience there yet. After a good, consistent rally in Estonia, it would be great if we can finish on the podium again.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“There are a lot of similarities between Estonia and Finland, but for me the biggest difference is the surface. Estonia is softer and more gravelly, whereas Finland has much higher grip, so sometimes it feels a bit like driving on tarmac. There are also more crests and blind corners. We learned a lot in Estonia and still have a little room for improvement, so we’ll be working to make the car even stronger ahead of Finland. Experience always helps, but many of the drivers know these roads extremely well and have the advantage of local knowledge. Our goal is the same as it was in Estonia: to fight for victory, be in the battle from the very first stage, stay out of trouble and have a perfect weekend.

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Finland is a unique event and one of the true classics of the WRC. It’s not just about driving flat out – you have to commit over the crests and jumps, making sure you land the car perfectly to carry speed into the next corner. The podium we achieved in Estonia gives us confidence heading into Finland. Last year we were fighting for second and third with Thierry until we both suffered punctures after hitting the same rock on Saturday, so I believe we can be strong this year as well. We have a good road position, completed a positive test in Finland, and we’ll be pushing hard. I’m confident we can fight for another podium.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It will be nice to be back at my home rally, even if I probably don’t have an advantage after missing the event last year. At rallies like Finland, experience counts for a lot because the regular competitors know from memory how much speed they can carry into every corner and crest. There are some new stages this year, so everyone starts with a slightly cleaner slate, which should help us to have better chances. After Estonia, the goal is simply to improve, have a stronger weekend and be closer to the front.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season and one of my favourite rallies on the calendar. Driving these incredible Rally1 cars over the famous Finnish roads is something every driver dreams of. We’re looking to build on the positives from Estonia and continue making progress throughout the weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to the ultimate rally experience with the final year of Rally1 cars. I’ve only done Finland once before, which was 10 years ago, so it will certainly be a tough challenge to be on the limit from the word go. But we will certainly give it our best and build on our positive pace from Estonia.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“After seeing some good pace from us in Estonia, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in Finland. Estonia was great preparation, it has a lot of similarities to Finland, and I think we will be able to be competitive next week.”

In WRC2 we have some crews from both Toyota and M-Sport competing.

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“I’m looking forward to this Rally Finland. It’s always a special rally for me as my second home rally. I’ve been living in Jyväskylä for five years, so the atmosphere feels very familiar, and the roads are the most beautiful in the calendar. I had a bit of a disappointing rally in Estonia, so I really want to bounce back in Finland. Last year, it was a really good rally and a real turning point for me, so I hope to have the same good feeling and keep that strong pace through the whole weekend to fight against top drivers.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season – it has a unique character of roads which are always really enjoyable to drive. There are a lot of new stages this year, some reversed stages, so there will be a lot of driving by pacenotes which should suit me well. We will try and improve on last year’s pace, and we definitely want to be a bit better than we were in Estonia, so we have a bit of time now to analyse and improve.”

Mille Johansson

“Rally Finland is one of the highlights of the WRC season and a rally every driver dreams of competing in. The roads are incredibly fast and demand total commitment from the very first stage.

“Our goal is to build our pace from the start, stay consistent, and make the most of every opportunity. The competition is extremely strong, but if we execute our plan and avoid mistakes, I believe we can fight for a strong result. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team again and to be back competing in Finland.”

Summary

Last year Kalle and Jonne took their first victory on home soil, but then retired at the end of last year from the championship and they were the first Finnish crew to take victory since Esapekka and Janne in 2017. Sami and Marko joined the elite group of Finnish crews to take a championship win. Could they do the same this weekend?

Meanwhile elsewhere at Toyota, the news broke this week that Seb’s former co-driver is returning to competition after it was announced that Vincent was not competing due to personal reasons.

It is hard to look past the crews at Toyota for one of them to take victory this weekend, but road position will be very important on Friday and therefore we could look at Adrien and Alex, or perhaps Esapekka and Enni taking victory. You’re probably wondering why I’m not including Thierry and Martijn in possible predicted winners. The Belgian has not really been comfortable on these fast stages over the years. They could take a podium though which would do something for their championship challenge.

At M-Sport Josh and Eoin are hoping to put what they learnt last year to good use and improve on last years seventh overall. Martins and Renars were on place further back in eighth and will take part again this year. What will we see from the Latvian crew? Jon and Shane take part this year for the first time at the top level and will be looking to complete the stages and gain experience for the future.

Let’s see what happens then!