The opening event for the Finnish Rally Championship summer season, SM Länsirannikon Rally, will be driven this weekend as a two-day event in Lieto. The rally will start on Friday night with three asphalt special stages and will continue on Saturday with ten gravel special stages.

 

Due to his COVID-19 quarantine after the WRC Portugal, team GRX’s Emil Lindholm, who is third in the SM1-class after the winter season, was only able to drive this weekend's tests today on Thursday. Everything is still good for the upcoming event.

 

Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen will compete in Lieto with the familiar TGS Worldwide Škoda Fabia R5 Evo and with MRF rally tyres. The starting number for the duo is 3.

 

“The tests went very well. Preparing for this weekend’s rally was a bit challenging due to our quarantine issues. We did a voluntary quarantine, but as we have seen here in recent days, it is best to follow the recommendations”, Lindholm says.

 

The return to the Finnish gravel roads was a pleasant change for Lindholm.

 

“Last weekend we drove a rally at an average speed of 80 km/h and today in the tests at an average speed of 138 km/h. That is a pretty drastic change, but a nice one. I have a good feeling about this rally. The car felt good and we didn’t really make any changes. We tried different tyre mixes and gathered information about them. Everything is fine for the weekend”, Lindholm told after the test day.

 

The SM Länsirannikon Rally will start tomorrow, Friday, with three asphalt special stages.

 

“I think it's a fun challenge. The driving style changes a little bit. After all those special stages aren’t regular asphalt rally stages because of the gravel tyres. There are not very long special stages on the weekend, so it is important that the tyres are at the perfect temperature immediately after the special stage starts”, Lindholm says.

 

“It is fun to drive at home on gravel surface. We have a new tyre for summer weather so it's nice to see how we do with MRF in Finland. I think this is a good tyre that the manufacturer has worked hard on. The podium is our goal”, Lindholm says.

 

Summer season’s first Finnish Rally Championship competition will start on Friday at 19:01 from Lieto. The evening program includes three special stages with a total length of 23.28 km. The rally will continue on Saturday morning starting at 7:55. The program of the day includes ten gravel special stages with a total length of 78.33 km. The first competitors are expected to reach the finish line of the rally in Lieto on Saturday afternoon at 17:45.