Finnish Rally Championship series continues this coming weekend, 1-3. February in Rovaniemi, which once again gets to host the classic Arctic Lapland Rally, now for the 59th time. The arctic adventure attracted 124 drivers to this year’s edition, of which no less than 34 bring international colour to the rally. In total, there are drivers from 21 different countries.
The rally starts on Friday, February 2nd at the Lordi’s Square in Rovaniemi city centre at 11:00, from where the competitors head towards the first leg of five special stages before the overnight break. On Saturday, there are seven stages ahead before the podium celebrations are due to start at 20:15, once again brining all the finishing crews to the Lordi’s Square. On Thursday, before the actual rally begins, the traditional Vennivaara shakedown stage starts at 13:00 and will serve as the first taste of the arctic conditions.
Rovanperä starts his season in Rovaniemi
The brightest star at the legendary Arctic Rally is naturally the two-time world rally champion Kalle Rovanperä of Toyota GAZOO Racing, who will drive his first rally of the year this weekend. Rovanperä, who is running a partial WRC program this season, is testing in Rovaniemi for Rally Sweden ahead in two weeks.
Altogether, two Rally1 cars will be pacing the stages, as another Toyota pilot, Elfyn Evans, will also participate. Evans competed already in the World Rally Championship season opener in Monte-Carlo last week, where the Welshman finished third behind Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier.
Toyota’s team boss Jari-Matti Latvala is also on the start list. Latvala competes at the arctic circle with his historic Toyota Celica with co-driver Juho Hänninen.
Who will take the reindeer antlers?
In the SM1 class of Rally2 cars, the level of talent is extremely high, and in Rovaniemi we will see one of the toughest driver lineups in the history of the class. There are 26 drivers, many of whom will also be seen in the WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship event in Sweden. Thus the battle for the winner’s legendary reindeer antlers will be nothing but intense up until to the final meters.
Among the usual names in the FRC this season, the number one favourite is the winner of the opening rally in Riihimäki, Roope Korhonen, who now changes from Skoda to the fresh Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The all new Toyota will be seen on snow for the first time in Rovaniemi, so at this point it is still difficult to say about the car’s power ratio compared to, for example, the all time Rally2 power brand Skoda.
Benjamin Korhola and Anssi Rytkönen, who are next in the championship standings, and Niclas Grönholm, who went off the road from second place on the last special stage in Riihimäki, would be among the favourites in a normal FRC rally. However, the level of the visiting competitors in the class is so high, it is not even close to the usual FRC event at the arctic this time around.
The fact that Teemu Asunmaa, who won the championship last year and skipped Riihimäki, will be participating in Rovaniemi and in all the upcoming events of the season, won’t help the the aforementioned drivers.
The class includes a lot of interesting visitors both from Finland and abroad. Home heroes Mikko Heikkilä and Lauri Joona might even be the biggest pre-race favourites. The top foreign competitors are represented by Nikolay Gryazin, who drove third in the WRC2 class in Rallye Monte-Carlo, and Georg Linnamäe, who is starting his season. Yuki Yamamoto and Hikaru Kogure from Toyota’s junior program bring their own spice to the soup.
However, it is worth noting that foreign drivers who are not registered for the series, will not take points from away from the Finnish drivers in Rovaniemi.
A record number of drivers in the SM2 class
In the SM2 class of Rally3 cars, the season was opened under the command of Henri Hokkala, and the Jyväskylä native, who won the silver medal in the class last year, also arrives in Rovaniemi as the number one favourite. The victory was not easy in Riihimäki and it will not be at the land of the fells either. Finnish drivers Jesse Kallio, Toni Herranen, Jooa Iivari and Ville Ruokanen, offer the toughest challenge.
The class registered a record number of competitors during its FRC history, 16, of which no fewer than nine arrive in Rovaniemi from foreign countries. Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez Bejarano, who is last year’s silver medalist in the WRC3 class, challenges the tough Finnish front.
Kauppinen seeks revenge
Leevi Lassila claimed the victory in the SM3 class of Rally4 cars at Riihimäki and is therefore going to hunt for his second victory from the top spot in the class. Tuukka Kauppinen was having a good run at the season opener, but was excluded from the competition. However, Kauppinen had time to prove his speed potential and is, together with Lassila, the hot favourite to win the class in Rovaniemi.
In the SM2 and SM3 classes, the Flying Finn Future Star competition, which has returned for this season, brings additional excitement. The winner gets a complete participation package to Rally Finland in the coming summer.
Vatanen from the top spot in the SM4 class to the arctic adventure
14 drivers signed up for the SM4 class, the first to start the journey is Riihimäki winner Ville Vatanen. Vatanen is followed by Henri Sääskilahti, who had been holding on to victory in Riihimäki, but his rally ended to an off in the second-to-last special stage.
14-year-old Lauri Halonen, who dazzled the rally fans at Riihimäki, is third on the starting line.
Keski-Korsu and Lähdeniemi favorites in the SM5 class
In Riihimäki, in the SM5 class, the battle for victory took place between Pekka Keski-Korsu and Nico Valkonen. After Valkonen was excluded, Keski-Korsu drove to an overwhelming victory and made himself the number one favourite in Rovaniemi.
Valkonen will not be seen in Rovaniemi, so the runner-up, Arttu Lähdeniemi, will become the toughest challenger for Keski-Korsu. Lähdeniemi didn’t quite get to top speed on the more technical roads of the opening rally, but Rovaniemi’s faster special stages are better suited to Lähdeniemi’s Mitsubishi.