Rally Finland
July 30-August 2

Known as the Finnish Grand Prix, Rally Finland is the big one – the one everybody driver wants to win. But, for 40 years, if you didn’t hail from Scandinavia, you didn’t stand a chance. From the first running of the event in 1951, the rally was won by a succession of local drivers and those from neighboring Sweden, until 1990, when Spaniard Carlos Sainz broke that domination. Eighteen years on from that and, still, only two other non-Scandinavians have won: Frenchmen Didier Auriol and Sebastien Loeb. That’s how specialist this rally is. The event starts from the university town of Jyvaskyla in the centre of the country and returns every day for service. One of the downsides to this year’s event is the loss of the stunning Ouninpohja test. This stage is so good, Colin McRae named his race horse after it. In a route shake-up, the organisers have left that road out. But the ones they have replaced it with aren’t bad either!

Conrad says:
This is always one of my favourite rallies. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of flying for 30 or 40 meters at a time with a World Rally Car firmly planted in top gear. Finland is one of the absolute classics in the championship, but it’s also a really technical rally – it’s not all about having a heavy right foot. The recce in Finland is crucial: you’re not just grading the corners and measuring the straights in Finland, you’re actually deciding where to place the car on the road for the jumps – don’t forget when you approach these crests at 180 or 190kph, you can’t see over the top of them. Talk about blind faith…

 

Rally Finland

In detail:
Round: 9/12
Date: July 30-August 2
Based: Jyvaskyla
Surface: gravel
Previous starts: five
Start: Jyvaskya (Thursday, July 30, 1900)
Day one: ten stages (130.84km)
Day two: nine stages (166.87km)
Day three: four stages (47.44km)
Finish: Jyvaskyla (Sunday, August 2, 1400)
First run as WRC round: 1973
Last run as a WRC round: 2008
Most driver wins: Marcus Gronholm (7)
Most makes wins: Ford (8)