Keen to use Rally Finland as a marker event in his ambition to graduate to a full season of competiton, Riku recorded a significant improvement in his overall pace on the rally benchmarked against his performance here last year. However, two technical problems – on Thursday with a throttle sensor that cost a 12 minute delay and ultimately, a cracked steering column on Friday – forced his retirement. Unbowed, Riku rejoined the event on its final leg today under super rally regulations and enjoyed a competitive and clean run to the finish ramp, despite running first on the road and having to manage the slippery conditions as the road sweeper.

”It was good to have the experience of sweeping the road as the first car, it is another important experience to add to our preparations. The high point of today, when we didn’t have any technical problems, was taking 4.8s off Dani Sordo over the 33kms of the Ouninpohja stage,” he said. ”It was amazing to arrive first on the road at the Kakaristo junction, there were huge crowds, in their thousands and with the whole experience of the huge jumps, it was all pretty wild,” he added.

Reflecting on his rally from an overall standpoint, Riku said, ”Okay, this is not perhaps the overall outcome I was looking for, but what is clear is that we have made a significant advance in our pace, and as we had less than two hours of testing before the rally, our competitive improvement has really come from building on the experience we gained on this event last year. So I know that those that have the knowledge and insight into all the factors that contribute to success in rallying at the top level will be able to read and see the improvements we have made as a crew here this weekend.”

Without the technical problems encountered, Riku would have been able to fulfil his planned goal of scoring points at Rally Finland, but his focus will now switch to his next event, which is under consideration, but may include an entry into the next round of the European Rally Cup in Turkey in September and there will be more exciting and challenging events added to the schedule in due course.

The preparation this season is focused on building a campaign in the FIA European Rally Championship for 2014.

Riku reflected, ”ERC is definitely my aim, and every event we contest is part of the preparation for this goal. Of course in WRC, the only way to be fully competitive is to be part of a full factory programme, but ERC offers the scope to be challenging for wins and to be competitive from the very start, so this is our objective and we will take whatever prepatory steps required for the rest of this year to make this a reality for 2014.”