They didn’t seal the victory without a fight though 2010 Pirelli Star Driver Ott Tänak (EST, Ford) shot into the
lead on Day One, unwilling to concede to the more experienced Hänninen, despite being on the Finn’s home
territory. However, after the young Estonian won SS1 and SS2, confident after his victory in the PWRC category
in Finland last year, Hänninen decided it was time to assert himself. Four stage wins in-a-row (SS3-6) promoted
the Finn into the lead and while Tänak rose to the challenge and fought back to win SS7, the unwavering
pressure and confidence of Hänninen bearing down on him caused the young Estonian to spin on SS8. When his
engine cut out and refused to restart, Tänak had to deal with the frustration of losing over three minutes and
falling to fifth in the SWRC. This left Hänninen free to blast through the rough gravel stages seemingly
effortlessly, unperturbed by his competitors and delighted to finish over two and half minutes ahead of the rest
of the pack.

Meanwhile, Tänak’s troubles promoted 2009 JWRC Champion Martin Prokop (CZE, Ford) into second and
Hermann Gassner Jnr (DEU, Škoda) to third on his first competitive outing in Finland. These positions were
held until the end of Day Two, but no sooner was Tänak relegated to fifth than he was back on the pace and
powering through the Finnish stages with his customary relentless pace to pass then-fourth placed Frigyes
Turán (HUN, Ford) on SS10 and Gassner on SS13, the opening stage of Day Three, to move into third. He was
too far adrift of Hänninen and Prokop to catch the experienced leaders, but managed to pick up six stage wins
on the final day, wowing the crowds with his phenomenal pace and spectacular sideways driving style and
narrowing the gap to Prokop to only one minute.

Despite driving carefully as he learnt the unfamiliar roads, Gassner was pleased to finish fourth, earning 12
SWRC points with Turán, Bernardo Sousa (PRT, Ford), Karl Kruuda (EST, Škoda) and guest driver Juha Salo
(FIN, Mitsubishi) completing the line-up of eight SWRC finishers. Salo was the first SWRC entrant to enter the
Championship in a newly homologated Mitsubishi R4 and was pleased to prove his Lancer’s pace over the tough
stages. Unfortunately, on-going battery problems on the opening loop of Day Two and brake problems on the
morning of Day Three left him in eighth at the end of the event a result which belied the speed he proved on his home terrain.

1st – Juho Hänninen (FIN): ”The last set of stages were really rough so we took the second pass much more
carefully. We were more cautious on the corners and tried to avoid the inside lines where it was especially
rough. All in all though, I’m happy – the car was good and we had no major issues.”
2nd – Martin Prokop (CZE): ”It was quite a good weekend for us, even better than I expected. I came here
hoping for third or fourth place so second is really perfect. We have showed some improvement compared to
last year but unfortunately we had to stop racing yesterday afternoon because I couldn’t keep the pace of Juho
[Häninen] and Ott [Tanak].”
3rd – Ott Tänak (EST): ”Day One was ok, Day Two was ok until we spun and Day Three was quite a good day!
We made some corrections to our pace notes in the morning and set some good times in the afternoon. Of
course I’m disappointed I didn’t win, but I think we scored good points for the Championship. Now we have to
concentrate on the Tarmac events, do some testing and try to find a good set-up.”