Secto Rally Finland is officially underway after the ceremonial start kicked off proceedings in Jyväskylä on Wednesday evening.
Running for the 73rd time, and the 50th time within the FIA World Rally Championship, the 2024 edition of Secto Rally Finland [August 1-4] is poised to be one of the best yet with the return of the legendary Ouninpohja stage.
Drivers completed their reconnaissance of the special stages on Tuesday and Wednesday, making and perfecting their pacenotes for the high-speed challenge that lies ahead - although changeable weather conditions could make it a very tricky rally.
The competitive action begins on Thursday, but first all 77 competing crews crossed the start-ramp in front of a packed crowd at Jyväskylä harbour to get proceedings underway.
Secto Rally Finland has attracted one of the best entries of the season, with a bustling WRC2 and Junior WRC entry list complimenting the 10-strong Rally1 headliners.
One of the first drivers over the ramp was Leevi Lassala, who last month was awarded with the AKK's Flying Finn Future Star Award. He will drive a Ford Fiesta Rally3 on what is his first Secto Rally Finland.
"This is so exciting," Lassila said. "I am hoping for a good result, let's try to do our best."
Three Finns are competing in the top class, including two-time and reigning World Rally champions Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver said: "Coming to Rally Finland it's always the goal to try and win it. This year we have quite a good chance, a bit of a different starting place to previous years so hopefully we can use it well. But of course, seeing all these fans already on Wednesday evening is quite cool."
Rovanperä's target will be to end Finland's long wait for a home winner, which stretches back to 2017 when Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm took a stunning victory for Toyota. Now competing for Hyundai Motorsport, Lappi is looking forward to his home event.
"It's always very special to do this home event," Lappi said. "The rain will make it fairly challenging I have to say but the stages look amazing - it's much wider roads than what we have had in previous years, so it will be faster than before.
"Ouninpohja is an amazing stage along with Myhinpää as well, so for sure there will be a lot of enjoyment this weekend."
Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen are the third all-Finnish crew capable of winning the rally outright, but the young pairing are making their debut in a Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid. That means they will be looking to learn, but are still capable of springing a surprise.
"It's just a really nice feeling, it's like a dream for me to be in a Rally1 car in Rally Finland, it cannot get any better than this," Pajari said. "I will just enjoy, I try not to take any pressure from making any result, I just try to have a good flow on the driving and I guess the better stage times will come from that."
Four previous winners of Secto Rally Finland are back to fight for another, as Lappi/Ferm are joined by last year's winners Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota Gazoo Racing), three-time winners Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai Motorsport) and 2013 winner Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais.
This is Ogier's first visit to Finland in three years and he's already loving his welcome: "It's a special country for rally, thank you so much for the support - kiitos already," he said.
"I'm sure there will be many cheering for Kalle this weekend which is normal as a local hero, but it's also the homeland of Toyota Gazoo Racing so it's also a bit of a home rally for me as well, so we'll do our best to bring as many Toyotas home on the podium as possible."
Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai Motorsport) will be the first crew to take on the stages on Thursday and Friday courtesy of their current lead in the FIA World Rally Championship. The rainy conditions could however do the Belgian pairing a favour this weekend.
"The conditions look quite good out there on the stages due to the rain. Being first on the road is always difficult, maybe this weekend a little less because we have seen some rain and more is coming," Neuville said.
"However there are still many challenges ahead with new and exciting stages. It looks really good out there, hopefully we can do the best and try to have some fun. The stages look beautiful, it's a nice itinerary and I'm looking forward."
Mayor of Jyväskylä, Timo Koivisto, was also in attendance at the ceremonial start and is delighted to welcome Secto Rally Finland to the city once again.
He said: "Hosting the Finnish round of the world championship is a massive thing for the city of Jyväskylä. It's very important for the companies of Jyväskylä also because these visitors spend money, almost € 20 million every year and that's very important."
"Maybe the most important thing is the visibility that the city of Jyväskylä gets - the media reach of this event is 1.2 billion people, it puts the city of Jyväskylä on the map."
Secto Rally Finland was also confirmed as part of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship earlier on Wednesday. The rally will remain the ninth event of the season, running on July 31 - August 3.
AKK CEO, Kimmo Vainio, said: "We are delighted to confirm the dates of Secto Rally Finland for 2025 on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar at a time when we are just preparing for the 73rd race and the 50th WRC event to be held in Jyväskylä this weekend.
"The long and successful history of the Finnish WRC rally is a testament to the strength of Finnish rally culture. This unique event is one of the largest annual public events in the Nordic countries and has a significant economic impact on Central Finland as well.
"We look forward to the 2025 WRC calendar offering exciting and impressive experiences for rally fans around the world.”
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Tomorrow the event continues with Shakedown in Ruuhimäki, starting at 10:01. The first competitive stage will be run in the evening, at Harju.
- The start ist for the Shakdown you will find here.
- Photos are available here.
