WRC 2023 Rally Finland: Preview

The World Rally Championship heads to the forests of Finland as Toyota’s championship leader, Kalle Rovanpera, hunts for his first home win while Jari-Matti Latvala returns for his home event.

Rovanpera chasing elusive home win

Reigning world champion, Rovanpera arrives in his hometown of Jyväskylä with a 55-point lead (170 pts) over his teammate, Evans who is sat on 115 points as the title nears its natural conclusion. 

With a comfortable lead ahead, Rovanpera will no doubt be looking to maintain his profitable position. However, he will also have one thing on his mind: a maiden home win. 

In Rovanpera’s short time in the sport and a world championship under his belt – with a second title on its way – the young Finn has never obtained a home victory in the WRC. A statistic he, and Finnish co-driver Joanne Halttunen would like to change. 

Despite this, the Finnish duo will have their own unique challenge to tackle in Finland this weekend as they will be the first car to head out into Finland’s picturesque forests.

Fourth Car for Toyota

In Finland, Toyota will also run a fourth car in the event which is going to be piloted by 18-rally winner, Jari-Matti Latvala as Toyota’s chairman, Akio Toyoda, will oversee the Japanese marquee’s fourth-car entry. 

As the most experienced driver in the WRC, the Finnish team principal’s return from retirement will mark Latvala’s 210th rally start. Alongside reigning world champion, Rovanpera, Latvala will also join teammates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta in the team’s fourth entry Yaris.

Despite being outside of WRC Machinery since 2020, when he last raced with a one-off entry at Rally Sweden, the Toyota team principal still managed to put in the  

Shakedown

As the drivers skipped across the hills, bends and crests of the Finnish forest, Tanak put in the fastest run on the first attempt, beating the likes of Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi by a tenth of a second. However, he was quickly beaten by Evans on the second pass who completed the course with a 1:57.3.

Although Tanak set the pace on the first pass, the Estonian – who had a troubled time in his home event, last time out – claimed his Puma was ‘living its own life already’ as he nursed minor issues with his Rally1 machinery.

While all of the drivers inside the top six managed to put in a time which was under the one-minute and 59-second mark, it was Evans who remained out on top.

The Welshman put in a 1:57.1 on the third run which stood three-tenths faster than Rovanpera who rounded out Shakedown in second place, and ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak in third. By the end of Shakedown, Rovanpera topped the pre-event session to become the fastest driver on home soil.

Itinerary

Across the weekend, the drivers will be faced with gravel roads amongst the forests and lakes in Finland, forced to tackle big jumps, high speeds and blind crests which can catch out a driver if the pace notes are not delivered perfectly. 

Rally Finland gets underway with a single 3.48km stage, in Jyväskyl on Thursday evening, quickly followed by nine stages on Friday which will cover a total of 104.76km on the second day. Eight stages line up Saturday amassing to 160.68km before the final four stages, on Sunday, round out the weekend with 51.64km of action. 

In total, the drivers will compete across a total of 320.56km of Finnish terrain to determine the rally winner on Sunday.

That’s all for the article; WRC 2023 Rally Finland: Preview!

Read more WRC here:

• WRC: Kalle Rovanpera secures third consecutive rally win in Estonia
• Rally Estonia: Rovanpera takes control of rally 3-seconds ahead of Neuville
• Rally Estonia: Tanak fastest on Thursday opener despite penalty
• Tanak to start Rally Estonia with five-minute penalty
• WRC2: Greensmith secures win in Portugal after Solberg penalty
• Rally Portugal: Solberg loses WRC2 lead after slapped with penalty

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.