Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen, who are driving TGS Worldwide’s Škoda Fabia R5 Evo, celebrated the victory of the 57th Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi. Lindholm, who won the Arctic Lapland Rally second time in his career, defeated Estonia's Egon Kaur by 1:23.7 minutes.

Lindholm led the rally by 10.8 seconds after five special stages on the opening day, although he lost 16 seconds due to a spin on the last special stage of the evening.

 

Lindholm started the second day of the rally strong clocking a 17.1-second fastest time on the longest special stage (44.56 km) of the day. In Ounasvaara's super special stage Lindholm increased his lead by 0.3 seconds, which meant Lindholm's lead to Teemu Asunmaa had increased to 28.2 seconds going to the service break.

The last three and decisive special stages of the rally were driven around Kemijärvi where Asunmaa started to push to gain Lindholm. Before the last special stage of the rally Asunmaa had taken the lead by 0.1 second. The dramatic solution of the rally was seen at the Ristilampi special stage (31.51 km) where Asunmaa got stuck in the snow and Lindholm drove to the finish line as a winner of the rally.

 

”That was a close call! We had a reindeer-vehicle collision in the third to the last special stage of the rally and lost over 20 seconds. Things happen but on the last special stage we gave everything we had and succeeded. I had a feeling at the finish line that our time (19.5 seconds fastest time) should be enough as we pushed it to the limit until the end. The driving conditions of the last special stage also suited me well”, Lindholm says.

”I have to admit that after the reindeer accident I thought this isn’t a good situation at all but we still got a great start to the season. We’re aiming for the championship and this result was the best possible”, Lindholm reminds.

 

Lindholm points out that the Arctic Lapland Rally is always a special event.

 

”Because of its length it feels more like a World Rally Championship round than a Finnish Championship rally. The victory and the second reindeer antlers of my career helped our season significantly. Raised FRC points are also really important for the series as a whole”, Lindholm says.

Lindholm admits that the spin on the last special stage on Friday with the 16-second time loss were on his mind at the end of the rally.

 

”Yeah, but I stopped thinking about it quickly and focused on the last two special stages. There’s always what if’s. Luckily it wasn’t something that resolved the rally. Everything worked out just fine. Especially the new special stages fitted us well. Last year we had to compete in the World Rally Championships purely from the pace notes, so we are strong in similar situations and we showed it here as well.” Lindholm says.

 

The Finnish Rally Championship series will continue on February 5th at the SM Auto Sorsa Riihimäki Rally.

 

1. Emil Lindholm – Reeta Hämäläinen Škoda Fabia R5 EVO 1:53:8

2. Egon Kaur (EE) – Silver Simm (EE) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 + 1:23,7

3. Mikko Heikkilä – Samu Vaaleri Škoda Fabia R5 EVO + 1:50,0

 

1. Emil Lindholm Škoda 34

2. Egon Kaur (EE) Volkswagen 25

3. Mikko Heikkilä Škoda 20