Asunmaa fourth in Kuopio – “Today wasn’t our day”

Teemu Asunmaa, 34, along with his co-driver Ville Mannisenmäki, 26, have placed fourth in the SM Ralli ABC Pitkälahti Kuopio. The gap to leader was 47,8 seconds. Asunmaa won a stage and gathered the fourth biggest points tally from the event.

The event started on Friday with two stages driven in the darkness of night. Asunmaa opened the short Super Special Stage, Heinjoki 1, with a shared fifth fastest time. On the Friday’s second stage, almost 15 kilometres long Palonen 1, Asunmaa was sixth.

-We drove a bit too cautiously. We tried to drive with clean lines and a straight car to avoid the snowbanks.

The second day of the event consisted of seven special stages and 91,07 special stage kilometres. Asunmaa was fifth fastest on the day’s opening stage, 34 kilometres long Riistakoski. The next special stage, SS4 – Hoikka was red flagged due to the lead car’s technical issues that blocked the narrow stage. Times were calculated for the top 8 contestants, and Asunmaa was fourth fastest based on the calculations losing 5,5 seconds to the leader’s calculated time. On the remaining two stages before the day’s service Asunmaa was fifth.

-I’m not happy in my performance at all. Our Pirelli tires and car have been performing flawlessly, but I just can’t get the performance extracted of myself.

The evening’s three stages were opened by Asunmaa with a stage win. The penultimate stage, Palonen 2, was driven again on

Saturday and Asunmaa was third fastest. Asunmaa was fourth fastest on the final stage and was fourth overall in the rally.
-I tried to push a bit on the last stage, but I hit snowbanks lightly a few times. It’s been a struggle for me the whole rally, we just have to improve.

The result wasn’t what Asunmaa set out to achieve from Kuopio. Asunmaa is already looking for the next event in the series, held in a bit over two months time. No plans have been drawn out yet for the months between.

-We’ll see when it’s closer to spring whether we drive some events or just testing. A big thank you for our cooperation partners and our service team, today wasn’t our day. But the season is long, and we’ll continue in May!

FRC continues with SM Mad-Croc Länsirannikon Ralli from 13th to 14th of May.

Overall results of SM Ralli ABC Pitkälahti Kuopio:

1.	Emil Lindholm	54:18,6		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	54:22,7	+4,1	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Juha Salo	54:56,5	+37,9	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Teemu Asunmaa	55:06,4	+47,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
5.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	55:06,7	+48,1	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5

SM Ralli ABC Pitkälahti Kuopio Special Stage results
Friday 4.3.:
SS1 – Heinjoki 1 – 2,45 km:

1.	Emil Lindholm	1:47,4		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	1:48,2	+0,8	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Mikko Heikkilä	1:48,9	+1,5	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	1:49,7	+2,3	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
5.	Teemu Asunmaa	1:50,0	+2,6	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

SS2 – Palonen 1 – 14,71 km:

1.	Egon Kaur	7:40,2		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2.	Emil Lindholm	7:41,6	+1,4	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
3.	Mikko Heikkilä	7:43,3	+3,1	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	7:44,6	+4,4	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
5.	Juha Salo	7:46,7	+6,5	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
6.	Teemu Asunmaa	7:47,0	+6,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

Saturday 5.3.:
SS3 – Riistakoski – 34,05 km

1.	Mikko Heikkilä	15:02,8		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	15:07,3	+4,5	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Emil Lindholm	15:09,6	+6,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Juha Salo	15:10,1	+7,3	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
5.	Teemu Asunmaa	15:20,6	+17,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

SS4 – Hoikka – 13,00 km (Calculated times)

1.	Egon Kaur	7:05,8		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2.	Emil Lindholm	7:06,5	+0,7	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
3.	Juha Salo	7:08,6	+2,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Teemu Asunmaa	7:11,3	+5,5	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
5.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	7:11,8	+6,0	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5

SS5 – Ruskila – 7,21 km

1.	Egon Kaur	3:05,9		Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	3:06,1	+0,2	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Emil Lindholm	3:06,3	+0,4	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Juha Salo	3:06,7	+0,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
5.	Teemu Asunmaa	3:09,5	+3,6	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

SS6 – Pihlainen – 7,16 km

1.	Emil Lindholm	4:07,5		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	4:10,4	+2,9	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Juha Salo	4:11,8	+4,3	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	4:14,2	+6,7	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
5.	Teemu Asunmaa	4:15,3	+7,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

SS7 – Heinjoki 2 – 2,45 km

1.	Teemu Asunmaa	1:48,4		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	1:48,8	+0,4	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Emil Lindholm	1:49,2	+0,8	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Riku Tahko	1:49,2	+0,8	Hyundai i20 R5
5.	Juha Salo	1:49,6	+1,2	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

SS8 – Palonen 2 – 14,71 km

1.	Emil Lindholm	7:37,0		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	7:39,7	+2,7	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Teemu Asunmaa	7:43,3	+6,3	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
4.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	7:45,7	+8,7	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
5.	Anssi Rytkönen	7:50,3	+13,3	Skoda Fabia R5

SS9 – Talluskylä – 12,49 km

1.	Emil Lindholm	5:53,5		Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
2.	Egon Kaur	5:56,4	+2,9	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
3.	Aleksi Röyhkiö	5:58,8	+5,3	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
4.	Teemu Asunmaa	6:01,0	+7,5	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
5.	Juha Salo	6:01,9	+8,4	Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo

FRC Championship standings after 3/7 events:

1.	Emil Lindholm	62
2.	Egon Kaur	53
3.	Juha Salo	43
4.	Teemu Asunmaa	41
5.	Mikko Heikkilä	38

Uutiset

Teemu ja Ville

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Alavus

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Yrittäjä

Ammatti

Ville
Mannisenmäki

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Rauma

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Uutiset

Teemu ja Ville

TeemuAsunmaa

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Alavus

Kotipaikka

Yrittäjä

Ammatti

VilleMannisenmäki

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Ikä

Rauma

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Asunmaa

Ville
Mannisenmäki