[WRC] 70th Rally Finland 2021

[EstWRC]

good and polite interviews this weekend from Tänak!

Yes indeed

Can’t confirm but heard his grandfather passed away during Greece. Maybe that’s he was more grumpy there and missed press conference

[dimviii]

Well done Evans! Amazing pace,no mistakes.

[meh]

From SS11 to SS19 (9 stages in row) first and second places where only for Evans and Tänak. Can not say what a battle, like Tänak said, there was not any battle, but what a pressure and intense driving/watching, nice one. Finland delivered.

[jonkka]

Evans' win is Toyota's 200th WRC podium finish.

[Portimao]

SO did Rovanpera retire or not?
2187

[EstWRC]

what a rally

what a performance from the TOP3 and Lappi, like i said, every stage was like a power stage between Evans and Tänak

amazing, no other rally doesnt even come close for me, best rally in the world....already regretting that i didnt go.

[fredfush]

SO did Rovanpera retire or not?
2187

Started after Evans, stage time 5:55.8

[mknight]

The great:
Evans - back to his Sweden 2020 performance and finally working well on soft Pirellis
Suninen - has been at MSport forever and instantly top speed after switch. Most notably vs Gryazin in same car.

The good
Breen - very good result. That said it's also 3rd rally in the row where he basically fights for win on Friday evening and then drops. Was similar in 2019 Finland and GB. Hopefully it's not his last chance for good result in next two years.

Lappi - good result given he has not driven WRC car for long time. Not so good result given it's his best rally. Good compared with other Toyotas. So a little bit mixed. But surely hasn't reduced his chances for Toyota employnment.

Hyundai WRC team - best Finland performance ever, though the lack of night testing seemingly hurt them.

The ugly
MSport - "participants", one stage where they weren't slowest WRC (Harju1). The only positive from the rally is giving points for jumps on the finish. Suninen was spot on in his comment. Not a team doing everything for win.

Hyundai WRC2 - both drivers would likely have been faster in old car. Solberg (or more likely his handling) is beyond commenting at this point

[KKS]

Evaaaaaannss! Waaaaleeesss!!! :cool:

So glad for him :)

[denkimi]

Thats 8 out of 10 rallies won by toyota.

We're not yet at VW dominance levels, but we're pretty close.

[Danny0405]

Huge performance by Evans, maybe his greatest. At least, it will give some interest to Catalunya Rally with his battle with Ogier.

Good performance for Breen, 3 podiums in a row, he has shown some consistency at high level even if he benefits from the road position. The only thing is that, as mknight said, he is a little Ostberg-like in his way of dropping along the weekend. But probably enough to secure managers on giving him a full-time seat.

Lappi rather good but not huge considering it was Finland; however, he probably did not take all the risks as this rally was very important for his career. It is probably enough to secure Toyota for next year.

Good run by Suninen with beating Ostberg. Not better than Lappi in Sweden and Portugal with the same car so it will probably not be enough to be in the discussion for Toyota (all the more with Lappi who made the job) but, if he is able to reproduce something similar with the Hyundai Rally2 in Spain, he could be a strong contender for a shared third car with Sordo in 2022 (if the choice is not totally made or if Solberg is still awful in Spain).

Good to see Tanak at this level even if he cannot fight for the win.

Ogier did the job except his issues in the power stage. But with 24 points-margin and two tarmac rallies to go, it is not that bad for the championship and it is the only thing that matters for him.

Quite disappointing for Katsuta, after his bad stint (even if not all of his fault), it was important to finish without mistake and he didn’t succeed all the more than his times were not impressive.

Solberg, I prefer to avoid to tell something... the same for M-Sport for other reasons.

[dimviii]

Adrien FOURMAUX
@AdrienFourmaux

68 meters and the guy puts me a 9/10 Loudly crying face

Do you have to go to the moon to get 10?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAxQ-c-WEAQ4R26?format=jpg&name=small

[Danny0405]

Last point: strange choice to make Rovanpera starting again today with his back injury and Catalunya so close (especially when we know since how long Dan Barritt is sidelined).
Ok, there is the manufacturer championship thing but they have a good margin in it so I think it did not worth the risk. I hope for him it won’t have consequences for Catalunya.

[dimviii]

Rally Paradise
@rallyparadise
·
1h
#WRC #RallyFinland It was 1st time than no Finnish driver get any stage wins! @EsapekkaLappi
4th place is still better than the most disappointing event in 2003, when Tommi Mäkinen was best Finn taking only 6th place. Luckily EP & @KalleRovanpera
can drive faster than this year..

[doubled1978]

That was a great rally, really enjoyable.
I can only echo what others have said about Evans, brilliant performance. I thought Tanak would have him today.
Shame for Breen he doesn’t seem to quite have the last drop of speed when the real top boys turn it up to 11. That said if he is getting a few full seasons, hopefully he can find that in himself and get to their level.
Sunninen is an interesting one, I think his performance was very good. Clearly some of the frustrations got the better of him with the interview after the last stage. I think Msport are relatively candid about the WRC car development and it’s current level, but the Rally 2 car really is poor and they seem to not realise it, and they have just been shown how poor.

[er88]

What exactly did Suninen say about Msport?

[TypeR]

What exactly did Suninen say about Msport?
,,We did big changes for this rally, we changed the team, we changed the car. Everything working well.
It's nice to be in good, proper team, who is working well and giving everything to make good results.''

[mknight]

However "nasty" it may sound it is clearly visible to anyone that MSport is not doing everything to get results (this year). Simple example here is no testing at all.

Also if you remember after Suninen crashed in first stage in Sardinia without any gravel testing at all since the start of the season (and therefore also without ever driving on gravel Pirellis), Millener said that it was "his (Sunninens) problem" and he should cope with it.

[dimviii]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAyI34gXEAgTzL9?format=jpg&name=medium

[Sulland]

Wow, that is not good PR for MSport, but Suninen has not been top notch himself either. But again, everything is cconnected with everything.


,,We did big changes for this rally, we changed the team, we changed the car. Everything working well.
It's nice to be in good, proper team, who is working well and giving everything to make good results.''

[EstWRC]

Q:
Talk to us about the future. We’ve seen you with Hyundai this year, is this the last time we see you in the car? What happens next?
CB:
Put on the spot… I guess we’re getting to it in days of knowing what the future will hold now. Exciting times, I would say.

Q:
We know you are desperate for a full season. Is that on the cards.
CB:
Yeah, it’s looking quite positive now, I would say. Let’s say we’ll be on the start line in Monte.

Full press conference https://www.fia.com/news/wrc-e-evans-everything-was-clicking-today

[dimviii]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAySMFUXMAQHAv2?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

[RS]

Good run by Suninen with beating Ostberg. Not better than Lappi in Sweden and Portugal with the same car so it will probably not be enough to be in the discussion for Toyota (all the more with Lappi who made the job) but, if he is able to reproduce something similar with the Hyundai Rally2 in Spain, he could be a strong contender for a shared third car with Sordo in 2022 (if the choice is not totally made or if Solberg is still awful in Spain).


Anything less than the win on his home event and in what is probably the best Rally2 car for these conditions would have been bad, but he got the job done. I agree Lappi’s performances in the Polo were better. But I also agree Sordo/Suninen would be a decent lineup for Hyundai’s third car next year, maybe with Rally2 programme for Suninen on the other events.

Talking of the Hyundai Rally2 car, it has not been too impressive so far so it might be tough for him to win again in Spain.

[Devillersvideo]

My video of this amazing rally :D

http://youtu.be/fqQzChHCWfE

[SubaruNorway]

My video from another awesome Rally Finland and my 10th time, i have to give a lot of credit to the organizers for making this event always interesting to watch with the new stages. Makes it easy to come back year after year, it will for sure be another 10 at least!
https://youtu.be/yHCravpCXTU

[KKS]

Q:
Talk to us about the future. We’ve seen you with Hyundai this year, is this the last time we see you in the car? What happens next?
CB:
Put on the spot… I guess we’re getting to it in days of knowing what the future will hold now. Exciting times, I would say.

Q:
We know you are desperate for a full season. Is that on the cards.
CB:
Yeah, it’s looking quite positive now, I would say. Let’s say we’ll be on the start line in Monte.

Full press conference https://www.fia.com/news/wrc-e-evans-everything-was-clicking-today
Looks like Adamo make another team for rotating drivers. And main team will have three full time drivers.
Hope so

[Ide]

Here's my Secto Rally Finland 2021 photo gallery. There are photos about 5 stages including podium:
https://www.ilkansivu.net/en/photos/motorsport/wrc/secto-rally-finland-2021

[wwbroe]

My video from another awesome Rally Finland and my 10th time, i have to give a lot of credit to the organizers for making this event always interesting to watch with the new stages. Makes it easy to come back year after year, it will for sure be another 10 at least!
https://youtu.be/yHCravpCXTU

Amazing video once more, keep up the excellent work.;)

[EstWRC]

I don’t know if it’s mentioned here that Neuville, Rovanperä and Tänak are out of title contention mathematically.

Not a surprise to anyone but now it’s officially

[AnttiL]

I didn’t get to follow the rally properly even through TV because my kid was born on Saturday. It will be a memorable weekend!

[wwbroe]

I didn’t get to follow the rally properly even through TV because my kid was born on Saturday. It will be a memorable weekend!

Congratulations;)

[EstWRC]

will he/she be rally driver?

you can practice early, go to OUninpohja with the stroller and walk over the crests making rally car noises

[240RS]

Anyone remember when we last had Finland's top rally without a Finn on the podium???

[TypeR]

Anyone remember when we last had Finland's top rally without a Finn on the podium???
2013
1. Ogier
2. Neuville
3. Ostberg

[240RS]

2013
1. Ogier
2. Neuville
3. Ostberg

Thanks. It so rare; even thought it may have been longer. . . Cheers

[Hartusvuori]

2013
1. Ogier
2. Neuville
3. Ostberg

2003 prior to that (Märtin, Solberg, Burns) and there we have now the only three existing examples of no Finns on Finland podium.

[AMSS]

2003 prior to that (Märtin, Solberg, Burns) and there we have now the only three existing examples of no Finns on Finland podium.

And first time ever when a Finnish driver did not have a single fastest stage time in Rally Finland

[Hartusvuori]

And first time ever when a Finnish driver did not have a single fastest stage time in Rally Finland

True that too. These stats may mean something to people who don't follow rallying that close, but may go to Rally Finland when having the chance to go. To me it didn't felt any lesser rally, and also Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen, Jari Huttunen and Emil Lindholm did top jobs in their classes, if taking a Finnish perspective.

[AMSS]

True that too. These stats may mean something to people who don't follow rallying that close, but may go to Rally Finland when having the chance to go. To me it didn't felt any lesser rally, and also Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen, Jari Huttunen and Emil Lindholm did top jobs in their classes, if taking a Finnish perspective.

Agreed

[AnttiL]

2003 prior to that (Märtin, Solberg, Burns) and there we have now the only three existing examples of no Finns on Finland podium.

2021 first time no Nordic drivers on podium

[samzon100]

Pictures Secto Rally Finland 2021
Shakedown, SS3, SS5, SS9, SS13 and SS19

https://samzon.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Secto+Rally+Finland+10.21/

[dupanton]

2021 first time no Scandinavian drivers on podium

I thought Scandinavia is Denmark, Sweden and Norway. So 2019, 2017, 2016... had no scandinavian drivers on the podium already. It happened quite often

[satnav]

I didn’t get to follow the rally properly even through TV because my kid was born on Saturday. It will be a memorable weekend!

Congratulations to you and your wife, here's to many happy days ahead.

[AnttiL]

I thought Scandinavia is Denmark, Sweden and Norway. So 2019, 2017, 2016... had no scandinavian drivers on the podium already. It happened quite often

Well, maybe replace ”Scandicavian” with ”Nordic”

[AnttiL]

https://youtu.be/l0nKsBCdnA8

Tänak moment on SS10

[tommeke_B]

Back from Finland too. Amazing weather, amazing scenery, amazing rally... Really happy to have seen this place in autumn for once. Maybe thanks to the dry weather, but the characteristics of the rally itself didn't really change in comparison to summer. Seen many amazing places, this rally never bores anyone, everytime you think you've seen it all, some other magic spot is right around the corner. The saturday stages remain the most interesting, by far, for me. Both Arvaja and Patajoki were nice additions. Sunday could use some change after 4 identical years (Myhinpaa will probably not be too fast anymore with next generation@ cars, if anyone needs a hint).

As facebook is down I don't have a place to upload an album yet. I took the opportunity to upload some photos from one spot on Kakaristo that had been on the back of my mind for years. Now it was more accessible as the "classic" Ouninpohja road wasn't used. It's on the narrow "rollercoaster" road that starts after the "fake" jump. IMO this is one of the craziest sections in the whole WRC. The situation on photo is a fast left hander that ends in a small jump after which the road turns right a little. It was crazy to see how different the approach from all drivers was, Breen looked by far fastest on this spot.

Greensmith
https://i.ibb.co/p344j6c/TB152147.jpg

Ogier
https://i.ibb.co/bF8Fhvx/TB152160.jpg

Tänak
https://i.ibb.co/GPqN4sc/TB152192.jpg

Suninen
https://i.ibb.co/3FvNPhy/TB152221.jpg

[mknight]

Reflecting on the PS jumping I actually believe that the next years hybrids might jump as far or farther than this years WRCs.
Gryazin in R5 was already pretty much on same level as WRCs. Most notably the well balanced Polos seemed easy to control in the jump. WRCs seem pretty tricky with often nose down or nose up situations.

Hybrids vs WRCs
+less downforce
+likely better weight distribution
+better acceleration
- more weight
- less suspension travel (but same goes for current R5s and it wasn't a problem)

Fast turns will be something else though with Finland probably showing the biggest difference in speed trough corners.

[meh]

Here we go: https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/colin-clarks-2021-rally-finland-driver-ratings/

Elfyn Evans 10/10
Esapekka Lappi 8/10
Sébastien Ogier 5/10
Kalle Rovanperä 4/10
Takamoto Katsuta 3/10

Ott Tänak 9.5/10
Craig Breen 9/10
Thierry Neuville 3/10

Gus Greensmith & Adrien Fourmaux 5/10

edit - my own opinion:
* To take in account "toolbox what you can use", then personally I would say 10/10 for Top4 (Evans, Tänak, Breen, Lappi).
* Ogier did own thing, title-race safe-and-a-bit-lost-mode, hard to put rating, rally 5/10 is ok, title race perspective can be higher, as he did not went to drive over his known limits and got valuable points.
* Neuville - rating depends, was retirement caused by him or just car broke up? Flowing-flying is not clearly his style, but he showed some good times as well.
* Rovanperä - struggled with setup (and assumption, maybe with too much expectations and pressure)

[mknight]

I think it was ok this time, much better than Greece.
Would give Tanak 8 or max 9 /10 personally, because of the relatively small difference over Breen.

Rating MSport is kind of impossible atm.

[Eli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJJRKwnlhOs&t=35s

A nice montage from what was their last gravel appearance for these spectacular cars. I have to admit, even though I only saw them once in real life (Deutschland 2019), I'm really going to miss them. They were truly something special & quite unique and I'm glad we got to have them in our championship even if it wasn't for the longest time (like 2.0 Turbo World Rally Cars).

[tommeke_B]

Got my album online, link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=rallyimage&set=a.6660838497261313

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244551249_6660803463931483_7444471118288132392_n.j pg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=RWmcvBY-xugAX80L7xa&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=48f05bc64ff4964c3c6c82591d6c5995&oe=618153CD

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244418923_6660801750598321_466471948789560532_n.jp g?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=OeYAE0JQGpQAX_6m6YU&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=c056a6a6f8be8becf8a4531f3b96a886&oe=61825AA5

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244418861_6660800910598405_797363472703907606_n.jp g?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=4XRfMLIit4YAX_JhSMw&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=90d1f848d4b41cecb81b48474368097a&oe=6181718B

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/243915425_6660804393931390_7387669723035978140_n.j pg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=d4qNgl9nKiEAX_kd5Tk&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=ff98c4f790362d272832de5074d5e68d&oe=6182FDFF

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244573626_6660800753931754_8796502344439149714_n.j pg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=j19SAzND-6gAX9oLGbM&tn=eJrW9hxpEsj3HYRF&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=2de10575ded79a02a548bd264bc8e882&oe=61829169

[Eli]

Got my album online, link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=rallyimage&set=a.6660838497261313

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244551249_6660803463931483_7444471118288132392_n.j pg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=RWmcvBY-xugAX80L7xa&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=48f05bc64ff4964c3c6c82591d6c5995&oe=618153CD

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244418923_6660801750598321_466471948789560532_n.jp g?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=OeYAE0JQGpQAX_6m6YU&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=c056a6a6f8be8becf8a4531f3b96a886&oe=61825AA5

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244418861_6660800910598405_797363472703907606_n.jp g?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=4XRfMLIit4YAX_JhSMw&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=90d1f848d4b41cecb81b48474368097a&oe=6181718B

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/243915425_6660804393931390_7387669723035978140_n.j pg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=d4qNgl9nKiEAX_kd5Tk&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=ff98c4f790362d272832de5074d5e68d&oe=6182FDFF

https://scontent.fbru4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244573626_6660800753931754_8796502344439149714_n.j pg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=j19SAzND-6gAX9oLGbM&tn=eJrW9hxpEsj3HYRF&_nc_ht=scontent.fbru4-1.fna&oh=2de10575ded79a02a548bd264bc8e882&oe=61829169


Beautiful pictures!! Just more proof we need to have Rally Finland once every few years in the Autumn just to mix it up a bit and have these absolutely gorgeous colours.

[dimviii]

https://twitter.com/MundoRallyes/status/1445378773864656903

[EstWRC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOArKeeLJUA

[Sulland]

1000 lakes, Finland is an absolute beast of a rally. Only the ones with big balls, (and Miss Taylor) will see the chess flag!

[EstWRC]

Vid from zeroundersteer https://youtu.be/vjw6kkc2D00

[MTA]

Fantastic rally as usual and it was beautiful to see Finland in autumn colors.
Some of our pictures can be found at https://www.facebook.com/rallyfoto.se

[Fast Eddie WRC]

What a gravel rally finale for the ultimate '2017' WRC cars, with the engineering, tech and aero we will probably never see the like of again.

Epic.