The 2021 Rally Finland (also known as the Secto Rally Finland 2021) was a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over three days between 1 and 3 October 2021. It marked the seventieth running of the

Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; , ) is a rallying, rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide an ...

. The event was the tenth round of the

2021 World Rally Championship The 2021 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-ninth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in twelve rallies for the Li ...

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. WRC2 is limited to production ...

and

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars that ...

. The 2021 event was based in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

Central Finland Central Finland (; ) is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Northern Savonia, North Savo, and Southern Savonia, South S ...

and was contested over nineteen special stages totalling in competitive distance.

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship. Tänak achieved his maiden ...

and

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas ...

were the defending rally winners. The team they drove for in ,

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team is a competitor of the World Rally Championship (WRC) based in Finland, serving as the entry for the car manufacturer Toyota. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala and its drivers for ...

, were the defending manufacturers' winners.

Kalle Rovanperä Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000) is a Finnish professional rally driver who competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is a double World Champion, having won the 20 ...

and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally (sports), rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the 20 ...

were the defending winners in the WRC-2 category, but they did not defend their titles, as they were promoted to the top class by Toyota. In the WRC-3 category,

Tom Kristensson Tom Krister Kristensson (born 30 April 1991) is a Swedish rally driver, who drives in the Junior World Rally Championship. He is originally from Lund, but now lives in Hörby Hörby () is a locality and the seat of Hörby Municipality, Sk� ...

and

Henrik Appelskog Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estoni ...

were the reigning rally winners, but they did not defend their titles neither, as Kristensson was promoted to the WRC-2 class by

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly "M-Sport World Rally Team", "Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team", and "Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team") is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson (rally d ...

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh professional rallying, rally driver. He has competed full-time in World Rally Championship since 2014, originally for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford and currently for Toyota Gazoo ...

and Scott Martin won the rally for the first time and their second of their season. Their team,

, successfully defended their titles. In the World Rally Championship-2 category,

Teemu Suninen Teemu Suninen (; born 1 February 1994) is a Finnish rally driver. He currently competes part-time for the Hyundai team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Rally career Suninen won the WRC-3 class in the 2014 Rally Finland and 2015 Rally ...

and

Mikko Markkula Mikko Markkula (born 3 January 1981) is a Finnish rally co-driver. Rally career Mikko Markkula began his rally career in 2001, co-driving for several drivers in the World Rally Championship. From 2007 to 2011, he was the co-driver of Juho H ...

won the event. The local crew of Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen took their maiden victory in the World Rally Championship-3 category.

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

Reigning World Champions

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Eugène Emile Ogier (; born 17 December 1983) is a French Rallying, rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He is currently teamed with co-driver Vincent Landais. He has won 8 List ...

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French people, French rally (sports), rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 World Rall ...

entered the round with a forty-four-point lead over

and Scott Martin.

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville ( ; born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up five times (2013, 2016–2019) and achieved his maiden ...

and

Martijn Wydaeghe Martijn Wydaeghe (; born 1 September 1992) is a Belgian rallying co-driver. He is partnered with Thierry Neuville for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship category. Rally career Wydaeghe made his WRC debut at the 2013 Rallye de F ...

were third, a further six points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers,

held a massive fifty-seven-point lead over defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, followed by M-Sport Ford WRT. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen and Citroën, finishing third in th ...

led

Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Marco Bulacia Wilkinson (; born 27 September 2000) is a Bolivian rally driver. He currently partners with co-driver Diego Vallejo in the WRC-2 category. His younger brother Bruno is a rally driver also. Rally career Bulacia Wilkinson made his ...

by twenty-two points in the drivers' championship, with

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in ...

in third. In the co-drivers' championship

Marcelo Der Ohannesian Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. Marcelo may refer to: Given name * Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapist, and necrophile * Marcelo Arriagada (born 1973), Chilean road cyclist ...

held a six-point lead over

Ola Fløene Ola Fløene (born February 1, 1969) is a Norwegian rally co-driver in the World Rally Championship. He is currently contesting WRC2 alongside long-time colleague Andreas Mikkelsen with Toksport WRT. In the past Ola has co-driven with a number of ...

, with

Torstein Eriksen Torstein Eriksen (born 29 April 1990) is a rallying co-driver from Norway. He is currently teamed with Andreas Mikkelsen and is competing for Toksport WRT in the World Rally Championship-2. Rally career Torstein Eriksen began his rally career i ...

in third. In the World Rally Championship-3 standings,

Yohan Rossel Yohan Rossel (; born 13 February 1995) is a French people, French rallying, rally driver. In 2021, he became the driver's champion in the World Rally Championship-3, WRC3 category. Rossel is also the 2019 French Rally champion. His younger brothe ...

led Kajetan Kajetanowicz by fifteen points in the drivers' championship, with

Nicolas Ciamin Nicolas Ciamin (born 18 February 1998) is a French rally driver. Biography Nicolas Ciamin is the son of Gilles Ciamin, a French champion in motorcycle trials Motorcycle trials, also known as observed trials, often called simply trial or tr ...

in third. In the co-drivers' championship Maciek Szczepaniak held a thirteen-point lead over

Alexandre Coria Alexandre Coria (born 22 January 1993) is a French people, French rally (sports), rally co-driver. He is the co-driver of Adrien Fourmaux for M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford in the World Rally Championship. Rally results Season still in ...

, with

Yannick Roche Yannick is a first name that originated in Brittany, France, where the combination of its two Breton language parts, ''Yann'' and ''-ick'', results in the meaning of ''Little John'' or ''Petit Jean'' in French. It is used as a first name mostly fo ...

in third.

Entry list

The following crews entered the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3, and

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Nine entries for the World Rally Championship are received, as were eight in the World Rally Championship-2 and fourteen in the World Rally Championship-3.

Route

Itinerary

All dates and times are

EEST Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, ...

Report

World Rally Cars

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-2

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

World Rally Championship-3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

References

External links

*
2021 Rally Finland
at eWRC-results.com * Th
official website
of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Finland, 2021

Rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

October 2021 in Finland October 2021 sports events in Europe

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...