Finnish rallying championship news

[Rallyper]

OMG How stupid is that???

This is common national rules, but not appropriate having in WRC I guess...

How would rallies end if every blocking car is a reason to cancel a stage?

[Susiraja]

We had a proper start of the season since in Arctic rally we retired almost immediately. Jari learning stage by stage more from the car and me learning the reading pace for the Evo 9 after last year's R2 Fiesta.

First stage on Friday in the dark was a total mess for us. I was unsure with the reading pace and Jari also "pumped" with his driving. 9th in class and lost surprisingly little in time.
Second stage was OK. Super special and 3rd fastest overall.
First stage(stage 3) on Saturday started really well, but maybe 5km from the start we caught Ketomaa and had to drive behind him the rest of the stage. He said he knew we were behind him, but didn't want to let us pass since he counted it would have cost him 10 more seconds. We'll post incar footage later so everyone can see how much we lost or didn't loose driving behind him. Really unsportmanship since this isn't any WRC championship. He sabotaged our stage time on purpose. I lost all respect for the man. What a (place any description here you see fit) of a guy... We 8th on that stage.
Stage 4 went cleanly and we were 5th on that one.
Stage 5 went quite ok except for a couple of really long slides on loose snow. 5th on that one also.
In the end of stage 6 we caught some snow in our air filter, but luckily didn't loose too much time because of it. Managed to climb 5th overall.
Mikkeli had great roads as usual and was nice to have a trouble free rally on technical point of view. Our working also got better throughout the rally. Next round in Joensuu is my spiritual home rally and really looking forward to it.

[br21]

First stage(stage 3) on Saturday started really well, but maybe 5km from the start we caught Ketomaa and had to drive behind him the rest of the stage. He said he knew we were behind him, but didn't want to let us pass since he counted it would have cost him 10 more seconds. We'll post incar footage later so everyone can see how much we lost or didn't loose driving behind him. Really unsportmanship since this isn't any WRC championship. He sabotaged our stage time on purpose. I lost all respect for the man. What a (place any description here you see fit) of a guy... We 8th on that stage.

He lost there already over minute and a half so few seconds more wouldn't make any difference for him... this guy is really not OK!

[Mirek]

This is common national rules, but not appropriate having in WRC I guess...

What? No, it's not common! No way! It's normal to stop stage if it is blocked and give all affected crews notional times.I'm really surprised that somewhere rules can be so stupid that they punish crews for something they had no chance to affect. At least in central Europe and all FIA events (even those stupid cups) it is like that.

How would rallies end if every blocking car is a reason to cancel a stage?

I absolutely don't get Your thinking. So the way to finish the stage is to stand half an hour on the spot? That's a joke, nothing else. Usual correct way is that the affected crews take alternative route to the next time check around the stage like it is pointed in the itinerary. They are then given notional times. This is standard procedure!

[Rallyper]

What? No, it's not common! No way! It's normal to stop stage if it is blocked and give all affected crews notional times.I'm really surprised that somewhere rules can be so stupid that they punish crews for something they had no chance to affect. At least in central Europe and all FIA events (even those stupid cups) it is like that.



I absolutely don't get Your thinking. So the way to finish the stage is to stand half an hour on the spot? That's a joke, nothing else. Usual correct way is that the affected crews take alternative route to the next time check around the stage like it is pointed in the itinerary. They are then given notional times. This is standard procedure!

Well, that´s the way in Sweden. It happened many times, especially in winterrallies, during my career. Just to accept - because this happens so often the organizers would have to give notional time on every stage wintery winters...

[HarriK]

National and FIA international rules are different. Hope that this rule will be corrected soon!
I'm very sorry for R2 drives who lost the game because of this!

[Mirek]

Well, that´s the way in Sweden. It happened many times, especially in winterrallies, during my career. Just to accept - because this happens so often the organizers would have to give notional time on every stage wintery winters...

It happens here quite often that crews from the bottom of the startlist compete on let's say 1/4 or even 1/3 stages less than the top because of accidents (happens especially in one day events). But they still have fair competition. They drive less, that is true but their effort is not ruined by somebody else. That's totally wrong to accept, sorry.

[Rallyper]

It happens here quite often that crews from the bottom of the startlist compete on let's say 1/4 or even 1/3 stages less than the top because of accidents (happens especially in one day events). But they still have fair competition. They drive less, that is true but their effort is not ruined by somebody else. That's totally wrong to accept, sorry.

I´m not against that way. Just mentioned that it´s not generally rule. But your solution should be the most justice way.

[Juha_Koo]

Onboard with Salo/Salminen on SS3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED5IOMo2t6w

[Susiraja]

Here's the onboard I promised from stage 3. Catching Ketomaa at roughly 6minutes and then concentrating on not going off the road in the snow dust
SM- Vaakuna ralli 2013, Jari Kihlman - YouTube

Here is some footage from stage 4. That went well, but have to admit that the onboard footage isn't as entertaining as Salo's. Those are always nice to watch
SM-Vaakuna ralli 2013, EK4, Jari Kihlman - YouTube