The Finnish Rally Championship is the national

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

championship in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The series currently has four classes; Super4 (including R5, S2000 and old WRC cars), Production4 (including Group N cars), R2 (including R2 and R1 cars) and Super2 (including other 2WD cars apart from R2 and R1).

History

The series began in 1959 and featured four events; Hankiralli, 500-ralli, Syysralli and the

1000 Lakes Rally Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

. Esko Keinänen and his co-driver Kai Nuortila took the title with a Peugeot 403. In 1970, Group 2 was introduced with

Timo Mäkinen Timo Mäkinen (18 March 1938 in Helsinki, Finland – 4 May 2017) was one of the original " Flying Finns" of motor rallying. He is best remembered for his hat-trick of wins in the RAC Rally and the 1000 Lakes Rally. Career Mäkinen's start in ...

taking the first title.

Group 4 Group 4 may refer to: *Group 4 element, chemical element classification *Group 4 (racing), classification for cars in auto racing and rallying * G4S, formerly Group 4 Securicor, a prominent British security company *IB Group 4 subjects The Group 4 ...

championship was contested from 1976 to 1978. In the 1980s,

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...

cars were allowed in Group 1, eventually replacing the older homologation entirely. Group 2 was replaced by

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing 'standard' large scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

in 1987 and a new championship was created for

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

cars from 1983 to 1988. Group 4 entrants were allowed to participate in the Group B championship in 1983 and 1984. In the late 1980s, groups A and N were divided into over and under 2000 cc classes, creating the new groups "a" and "n". In addition to the usual classes, the Finnish Rally Championship for Ladies has been contested from 1971 to 1978 and from 1986 to 2000.

Champions

Aaltonen, Toivonen and Mäkinen - 1965 Rally Finland

References

External links

Ralli SM
{{Rally championships Auto racing series in Finland Rally racing series

Rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

Recurring sporting events established in 1959 1959 establishments in Finland