In the SM1 class for Rally2 cars, Kees Burger, who has been touring Finnish rallies for a long time, was sunny and cheerful as always. The Belgian driver finished 6th in the top class and praised the Finnish rally organizers and special stages in his usual style at the finish line. 

”We enjoyed it a lot. Amazing rally, beautiful weather, beautiful organization. It’s fun to do rallying like this.” 

Two foreigners competed in the SM2 class, Ireland’s Eamonn Kelly and Kazakhstan’s Petr Borodin, who both competed in Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars. Borodin’s rally ended on the second special stage after the Kazakh drove off the road. Last year’s Junior WRC competition winner Kelly, on the other hand, went also off the road in the last stage, but was able to continue and finish the rally. The final gap to the class winner Henri Hokkala was more than 20 minutes.

The highest number of foreign drivers were seen in the SM3 class of Rally4 cars. Four crews started on the snowy tracks: Italians Valentino Ledda and Giovanni Trentin, Estonian Mark-Egert Tiits and Belgian Thomas Martens. Martens, who competed in a Renault Clio, went off on the penultimate special stage and was forced to retire, while the others made it to the finish line. Ledda, who also competed in a Clio, suffered technical problems during the rally and was the last finisher in the class, in 8th place. 

Trentin drove with confidence in his Ford Fiesta and finished fourth. Mark-Egert Tiits, who was responsible for the strongest foreign performance with a Fiesta, beat Trentin by a notch and claimed the last podium place. The gap to the class winner Leevi Lassila was just over 1,5 minutes.

”I’m very happy since we came here for testing purposes. It was a tough day but the stages were great and in good condition. That’s pretty much what we hoped from the rally”

”It was my first rally in Finland, the roads here are a little bit different compared to Estonia. We have a long way to go to maximize the pace and the Finnish guys are going fast. I hope we can come back here and have some more fun” 

However, Trentin takes third place in the FRC standings after the opening round, as Triits has not signed up to drive the entire series. 

Ukrainians Serhii Potiko and Nadiia Soboleva competed in the SM5 class with Skoda Fabia R4 cars serviced by the Lithuanian Proracing team. However, both of the Ukrainian crews were forced to retire before the final celebrations. 

The Finnish Rally Championship series continues on February 1-3 at the legendary Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi, which is now being run for the 59th time.

Results: SM Riihimäki rally

SM1
1. Roope Korhonen 58:14,1
2. Benjamin Korhola +1:05,7
3. Anssi Rytkönen +1:56,1

SM2
1. Henri Hokkala 1:01:48,3
2. Jesse Kallio +15,5
3. Jooa Iivari +28,5

SM3
1. Leevi Lassila 1:06:06,7
2. Niko Kalmi +59,7
3. Mark Egert-Tiits +1:37,5

SM4
1. Ville Vatanen 1:09:56,6
2. Lauri Halonen +1:04,7
3. Tomi Tikkinen +1:41,9

SM5
1. Pekka Keski-Korsu 1:02:26,1
2. Arttu Lähdeniemi +1:30,3
3. Juha Salminen +1:31,5

SM-Ralli – Liveseuranta (rallism.fi)
SM-Ralli – Points (rallism.fi)

Osasto