Teemu Asunmaa to challenge the WRC stars in Arctic Rally Finland
24.02.2021
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Teemu Asunmaa in Arctic Lapland Rally last January.
Teemu Asunmaa, 33, along with his co-driver Marko Salminen, 42, compete in the WRC Arctic Rally Finland. The event is contested this weekend from 26th to 28th of February. The event is fifth WRC event for Asunmaa. Asunmaa also won the FRC opening event Arctic Lapland Rally driven in last January.
-We were here just last month and now we’re back, of course it’s a bit different now. Everything is a bit bigger and the audience is huge, but in the end it’s a rally just like any other.
The event will consist of five stages driven twice equalling ten stages in total and 251 special stage kilometres. The WRC3-class cars start behind WRCs and WRC2s, which creates a unique challenge.
-We have different starting place than what we’re used to. In the FRC we are the first cars on the stage, but here we are behind the other classes. At first run we have a cleaner road ahead of us, but it might get quite groovy on the second run. It might feel a bit weird as we aren’t used to them in the FRC, but we’ve experienced it before in the Neste Oil Rally Finland so its not completely new.
World Rally Championship event brings other challenges too. The tires are different to what are used in the FRC and this has been a focus of pre-event testing.
-The tire is very similar to what we had last year in FRC, but the studs are shorter which results in a bit less grip, but on the other hand the tire is more durable. We have a good setup from Arctic Lapland Rally, so we’ve been focusing on the tires now.
Three time Arctic Lapland Rally winner Asunmaa aims for a top three finish in the highly competitive WRC3 as well as to challenge the WRC2 drivers as well. WRC2 and WRC3 are both contested with R5-class cars.
-Our objective is to perform as well as we can. We are aiming to be in the top three in WRC3. Winning the event would be superb, but it’s still a long to go. If we think about the R5s in general, only Mads Östberg from the top drivers is absent. Otherwise everyone is present. We are driving the same race as (Jari) Huttunen for example. In the WRC3 (Johan) Kristoffersson has placed on the podium three times with an R5 and of course local drivers Emil (Lindholm) and Mikko (Heikkilä) will be tough. Nothing is taken for granted, but we aren’t giving anything away for free either.
WRC Arctic Rally Finland is driven on the 26th to 28th of February in Rovaniemi. The event consists of ten stages and 251,1 special stage kilometres. Spectating the event is forbitten. First stage is set to run on Friday at 15:08. WRC Arctic Rally can be followed at www.wrc.com, via the WRC application, WRC+ service and YLE Areena, YLE Ralliradio and YLE TV2 (SS1, SS4, SS7, SS9, SS10 Power Stage and highlights. Finnish only).
WRC Arctic Rally Finland Schedule
Friday 26.2.
| Time |
Special Stage number |
Special Stage name |
Special Stage lenght |
| 13:30 |
SS1 |
Lähtö/Santasport |
|
| 15:08 |
SS2 |
Sarriojärvi 1 |
31,05 km |
| 18:38 |
SS3 |
Sarriojärvi 2 |
31,05 km |
Saturday 27.2.
| 07:50 |
Service B |
Santasport |
|
| 09:08 |
SS3 |
Mustalampi 1 |
24,43 km |
| 10:38 |
SS4 |
Kaihuavaara 1 |
19,91 km |
| 12:08 |
SS5 |
Siikakämä 1 |
27,68 km |
| 14:05 |
Service C |
Santasport |
|
| 15:38 |
SS6 |
Mustalampi 2 |
24,43 km |
| 17:08 |
SS7 |
Kaihuavaara 2 |
19,91 km |
| 18:38 |
SS8 |
Siikakämä 2 |
27,68 km |
Sunday 28.2.
| 09:00 |
Service E |
Santasport |
|
| 10:08 |
SS9 |
Aittajärvi 1 |
22,47 km |
| 13:18 |
SS10 |
Aittajärvi 2 (Wolf Power Stage) |
22,47 km |
