Thread: Finnish rallying championship news

Originally Posted by Hartusvuori

Lapua is Saturday June 9th. 115 entries altogether.

Hirvonen does have a proper MkII Escort as well, but I've never seen or heard about any competetive action with that. Seems to be more of an museum item with a cool Rothmans livery and all.

Last year Latvala ran that Escort in Lapua as a zero car, but he could do only one clean stage because of clutch problems. Father Latvala is also entered in Lapua with that replica Gr. A Lancer Evo3.

Well perhaps there's a way to "convince" him to meet the challenge? Something between 'utmaning' and 'utpressning' (whatever the hall that is på finska)... Maybe a "Press Campaign"...

Know any reporters? We could start a rumor, totally groundless that "Hirvonen accepts the challenge thrown down by Latvala" (see? I just started the rumor---tricky!) and the reporter could ask pointed questions "How are your plans progressing to meet the challenge JML threw down to meet in Escorts at dawn?"
With a cooperative reporter the questions could get progressively more, well, pressuring if he claims he can't drag his Escort out " Is it true your service van was seen near that elementary school with the words "free candy" spray painted on the side?"
And "It would really be a shame if these photographs were to come into the wrong hands, people misunderstand these things so easily. I'm sure there's an explanations for......."

So who knows a cooperative reporter?

Ovisepät was a nice small rally, I hope we get these kind of rallies more. Organization was working very well, only a small 20 minute delay after the midpoint break. There was live internet coverage from the stages. Route was very nice, especially the SS 4 with the last five kilometres on tarmac...was interesting. Very nice atmosphere on the stages, I even got free sausages when leaving SS4.

Lappi was rather conservative in the beginning, I was bit surprised that Pajunen was leading the rally after SS2. But clearly Lappi gained confidence and the display on SS3 was great. No notable retirements except Jussi Vainionpää in FWD class due to a off on SS4 tarmac section. Small surprise in group-F where Vesa Hirvonen won in front of Mikko Kauppinen by a huge margin of 0,6 secs.

Originally Posted by tolis

Do we know the reason why Salo didn't start?

Salo didn't start because he wanted to conserve his budget. After three days of gravel tests the car felt good and no additional testing was required, therefore they decided not to run.


Lappi's onboards: Ovisepät Rally 2012 - Esapekka Lappi Media

My video from the rally, in the end couple small moments:

Seeded entries for next weekend FRC Lapua: http://www.lapuanua.fi/@Bin/124666/L...ttelo+2012.pdf

Would've hoped to see JML higher in the order, because this rally has easy schedule for seeing three out of four stages for top 40-50 cars, but now if and while waiting for Latvala pretty sure one stage must be ruled out or at least miss the top runners. Also, stages are rather long ones, so if JML gets 2 minute gap, he would need more. But all in all, it's nice entry and I have nice spots looked up, so now all it requires is a proper weather. Last year it was above 30 celcius, that much we don't need...

FRC Lapua will start tomorrow, first stage around 12.19 Finnish time.

Several withrawn entries, most notably Jukka Hiltunen - Fabia S2000.

You can see results here: Tulossivu

Jari-Matti Latvala in class 10.

Finnish speaking people can see end-of-stage comments via RalliSM Facebook and Twitter.

Esapekka Lappi wins again. This time Jarkko Nikara gave quite strong opposition, loosing only +1,8 seconds. Juha Salo was disarmed and fell +40s behind, but because Nikara isn't running FRC, Salo takes second best points. Joonas Lindroos wins 2WD SM2-class.

Mikko Pajunen rolled quite heavily on SS1, around midstage.

Rather remarkable rally from Nikara, nearly beating Lappi with old N4 Evo9. Ofcourse Nikara's running position, as he was seeded right behind the fastest FRC guys, helped him to some extent because there were sections with lots of loose gravel but still, excellent showcase of his speed.

FRC dreams are basically over for Salo, I was expecting him to be closer but the difference was about the same as in the winter. On SS1, I was on a really fast place and had a long view - R4's lack of power was clear, the difference was very clear even to the naked eye. Pajunen's crash was a surprise to me, nothing special in it though, just a bit too fast into some "basic" corner, rear hit something and over they went. Picture of the car: http://mikkopajunen.net/files/jpeg_c...n%5Fcrash.jpeg

My video from the event coming later...

JML and Asko Sairanen in action (actually they spun there, but this looks nice... apologies for the horrible colours and editing, done super quickly on a laptop with Preview) :

^ Obviously should've stayed that extra minute at that corner :-) But we saw him running past us at high speed section prior to this. Nice :-)

Originally Posted by Hartusvuori

^ Obviously should've stayed that extra minute at that corner :-) But we saw him running past us at high speed section prior to this. Nice :-)

Haha, yeah... Not an everyday situation to see him spin - live I mean.

Very sensible drive from Lappi. No mistakes and 5th Fiesta S2000 win in the row (4 FRC events and 1 national).

Somehow disappointed, because Nikara was the star of the show and would have deserved the win. Driving the old evo 9 to the limit and he lost at least 3-5 seconds, because he had to slow down on the SS 2 (I saw the situation), when Vihavainen´s Evo 10 was out of the road and the back of the car was on the road. It was only possible to overtake the car driving slowly. Nikara´s aim in this event was to test Yokohama´s new gravel tyres, but the delivery was late from GB to Finland and he had to use his last season´s Pirellis and had only three new tires for this rally...

Salo had nothing chances against Nikara or Lappi. What a pity that Pajunen rolled already on the SS 1. It was sunny and dusty day in the western Finland and really great to see also JML behind the wheel of the Escort RS 1800..!

Pictures:
POPPankki-ralli 9.6.12

and more pictures and also videos (maybe much more is coming..):
Ralli.net - POPPankki SM-Ralli 8.-9.6.2012 Lapuan UA, kuvat ja videot - Ralli.net

21 year old Frenchman Steven Bossard had a tough day at work learning Mäkinen's Subaru and the Finnish fast gravel road.
He's usually competing in the Junior and Twingo R1 championships in France.

Onboard from Pajunen's crash:

Originally Posted by Juha_Koo

Onboard from Pajunen's crash:

mistake at right corner and at next corner(right too) went wide and rolled ...strange.Car was ok? Maybe flat tyre(rear left) from first right corner he went wide and bit out of road?

Originally Posted by dimviii

mistake at right corner and at next corner(right too) went wide and rolled ...strange.Car was ok? Maybe flat tyre(rear left) from first right corner he went wide and bit out of road?

Car was okay, just a bit too much speed and slippery surface. In the close call at 5:50 they had "Medium right minus gradual, bale inside" and Pajunen says to take the "gradual" off from the notes. Gradual is not a good word to describe the Finnish word used in the notes, but it means an opposite of "tight".

Then in the crash corner they have "medium right plus, camber" and MP says "[Change] This to medium!" but unfortunately the rear gets a bit too deep. Taking the positives, atleast he is trying hard...which is a very good thing.

My video from Lapua, contrast in locations: high speed from SS1 and very tight junction from SS3.

Juha_Koo you got PM.

POPPankki SM-Ralli, Lapua/Finland 9.6.2012. Jarkko Nikara/Petri Nikara, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, SS 4 Incar:
Lapua SM Ralli 2012 EK4 J.Nikara - P.Nikara - YouTube

Originally Posted by Fly

21 year old Frenchman Steven Bossard had a tough day at work learning Mäkinen's Subaru and the Finnish fast gravel road.
He's usually competing in the Junior and Twingo R1 championships in France.

He was European Rallycross Champion in S1600 Class Interesting to see him with Mäkinen Racing ... Does it mean something about races with Mäkinen Racing's Subaru ?

Mattias Therman entered next FRC event in Kouvola in Printsport-run Fiesta S2000.

Elfyn Evans and Nil Solans have entered to Kouvola with Fiestas. Going to be interesting to see their speed before NORF.