The world’s leading rally kingdom

The WRC has a number of classic events, and Rally Finland is one of them. It is an ultra-fast battle with a series of jumps, some of which being tens of metres long, as well as being the home event for Finnish drivers, who have a dominating presence in the rallying world. In this country, rally drivers are so well known and held in such high status that they are seen as top athletes. Their frequent appearances in TV commercials demonstrate that rallying is the national sport.

As we know, there are many Finnish drivers who compete at the top level in Formula 1 and the WRC. But why is this? I asked Timo Jouhki, the Godfather of Finnish rallying, who discovered Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen and the current team principal of Toyota, Jari-Matti Latvala.

“In Finland you learn to drive from an early age on roads in the farm or in the forest where no one drives. With long winters and good gravel surfaces, wouldn’t it be strange if you didn’t become a rally driver?” He continued, “Strongly individualistic Finns are not very good in team sports. On the other hand, many Finnish athletes excel in individual competitions, especially those in which they use tools. I think this is largely due to their inner qualities as well. Owing to the harsh Scandinavian environment and the country’s background, Finns have the tenacity and mental toughness to withstand adversity in their DNA. This mentality is probably what makes them well-suited to rallying.”

Indeed, Finnish drivers are less likely to be extremely excited or to show an apathetic attitude. This year’s championship favourite, Kalle Rovanperä, has a composure that belies his age. He is the leading contender for this year’s Rally Finland as well. Not only does he have sheer speed, but he can also minimise time loss, wait for his chance, and take the win without being discouraged by an unfavourable running order. This is exactly the winning pattern as described by Jouhki.

Usual strategies and unexpected developments

Nevertheless, there are limits to what even Rovanperä can do. Finland is an event where the running order affects the result less, but it is still a gravel rally with dust from the previous cars hanging in the air on sunny days. On Day 1, as usual this season, Rovanperä was forced to take the role of the road sweeper, starting first.

Meanwhile, last year’s winner, Esapekka Lappi, who drives for Toyota, and Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, who has won this event twice, went into action knowing that Rovanperä would struggle in the early stages. Aiming to make the most of his road position at the back of the pack, Tänak said: “It’s important for me to widen the gap between myself and Kalle as much as possible on Day 1, particularly in the first loop, when he is handicapped.” True to his word, those who fought for the fastest times in the early stages of Day 1 were Tänak and Lappi. Rovanperä couldn’t set the top three times and the rally went on with Tänak and Lappi battling for the lead. The Hyundai driver finished Day 1 at the top with a 3.8 second overnight lead over Lappi. Toyota occupied from 2nd to 4th with Elfyn Evans in 3rd and Rovanperä in 4th. The Finn was 21 seconds behind the leader.

In a normal rally, clearing a 21-second gap is a distinct possibility, but Rally Finland, also known as the Finnish Grand Prix, is such a super-fast, closely fought rally that it is said that one second in Finland can be three seconds in other events. This 21-second gap looked pretty hard to overcome for Rovanperä, who wanted to minimise time loss.

Tänak keeps rivals at bay for third success in Finland

On Day 2 in the rain, Rovanperä set the fastest time on five of the eight stages with the running order disadvantage now gone and overtook Evans to move up to 3rd. He then passed Lappi, who was suffering from poor visibility with a broken windscreen, to climb to 2nd place, but was still 8.4 seconds behind the leader Tanak, who had completed Day 2 without making any major mistakes.

The stage distance left on the final day, Day 3, was only 43 km. To further solidify his lead, Tänak won SS19 with a 1.9 gap over Rovanperä to widen his lead to the Finn to 10.3 seconds. SS20 saw no change in the overall margin between Tänak and Rovanperä with them setting the same stage time. With this, the game was almost decided. On SS21, in the second loop, where the same stages are repeated, Rovanperä was fastest, but Tänak followed by mere 0.3 seconds. So, the gap between the two was still 10 seconds. This gap was not something that could be reversed on SS22, the final stage, alone. Rovanperä again set the fastest time, but was still 6.8 seconds short, which handed Tänak his second win of the season after Italy.

Toyota’s Lappi managed to complete the rally in 3rd place, despite a broken windscreen on Day 2 and a crash on Day 3, while his teammate Evans finished 4th. Even though Toyota’s ability to occupy top positions is impressive, this victory should be a bright spot for Hyundai, which has been stagnant. That said, eight rounds have already finished in this year’s WRC. With the championship leader Rovanperä already on 198 points whereas Tänak lies 2nd on 104 points, it seems now only a matter of time before Rovanperä