WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

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Lindholm faces a new challenge in Chile

26 September 2023

Hyundai Motorsport N-team's Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen will start the season's last gravel round of World Rally Championship in Chile. "A new rally is always an exciting event. I expect that the differences between the drivers will be small. I believe that with steady hard driving we will be able to drive to the podium," says Lindholm.

Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen, who compete with Hyundai i20 N Rally2, have a rather long driving break behind them. Last time the duo fought for the World Championship points in the WRC2 class was at the beginning of August in Jyväskylä.

- Time has gone incredibly fast. The time since the last competition feels more like a month than almost two months, Lindholm smiles.

As a relative newcomer, WRC Rally Chile Bio Bío has been driven only once before in 2019 and is generally known as a fast gravel rally, The WRC round in Chile has a road surface somewhat similar to Estonia and Finland. All special stages are practically run at sea level, so all the power of the turbo engine cars is available to the drivers.

- I believe that we have a good package to fight for the podium positions. Based on the organizer's videos, the roads are great and I believe that they are also nice to drive. A new rally is always an exciting event. No one from our class (WRC2) has competed here before, except (Andreas) Mikkelsen, (Gus) Greensmith and (Marco) Bulacia, so the upcoming rally is new for the most of us, Lindholm reminds.

Lindholm and Hämäläinen will start the WRC Rally Chile Bio Bío with starting number 24 and starting position 15.

- The special stages are well surfaced, but not as fast as in Finland and therefore more technical to drive. Nice roads in terms of the profile, although there are of course fast sections. In this sport, you want to drive more in curves than on straights. Turns in the rally have never been a bad thing, Lindholm smiles.

The Finnish driver believes that a solid and consistent performance will take the duo to the podium at the end of the rally.

- You have to invest in good notes and steady hard driving. My guess is that due to the technicality of the roads, some kind of differences are possible in special stage times - but not big differences. We aim to be on the podium, Lindholm sums up.

The 11th World Championship round of the season, the WRC Rally Chile Bio Bío, is driven during the afternoon and night Finnish time (UTC+3). The rally starts on Friday at 14:35 Finnish time. The program of the opening day includes 6 special stages and 112.86 special stage kilometers.

The rally continues on Saturday from 13:57 Finnish time. The longest competition day of the rally contains 6 special stages and 154.00 special stage kilometers.

Sunday's program includes four special stages (54.12 km), of which the Power Stage of El Poñe (13.86 km) ends the rally - starting on Sunday evening at 19:15 Finnish time.

WRC2-class World Championship points:
1. Andreas Mikkelsen (N) Škoda 108
2. Yohan Rossel (F) Citroën 92
3. Gus Greensmith (GB) Škoda 80
4. Sami Pajari (FIN) Škoda 71
5. Adrien Fourmaux (F) Ford 67
…
8. Emil Lindholm (FIN) Hyundai 62