Finnish rallying championship news

[Hartusvuori]

When is Lapua?

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.

[pantealex]

Lapua is Saturday June 9th. 115 entries altogether.

KITI system has 117 entries for Lapua

[janvanvurpa]

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?

[Juha_Koo]

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.

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:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsVbhds-zg

[Hartusvuori]

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...

[Hartusvuori]

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.

[Hartusvuori]

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.

[Juha_Koo]

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) :

[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 :-)

[Juha_Koo]

^ 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.