Let's reflect on yesterday and the triumphs it brought! Here's a Q&A session with the winners.
Overall winner: Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)
Q: What a dramatic day it has been. Séb, congratulations on the win. I know it probably doesn't feel like a win right now but it is a win at Rally Finland. What a challenging event it's been this time around.
SO: Yeah, for sure, a little bit too dramatic in my eyes and not really the win I enjoy the most, but it's still a win. A win in Finland is always going to be valuable and I think I can be proud of my performance this week for sure. I haven't been competing on those roads since three years, I was excited to be here again and drive those beautiful stages. I think our performance has been pretty strong the whole week, there was basically only one car much faster than anybody else and it was Kalle. A little bit expected honestly, but still we have to say that Kalle and Jonne were really doing an amazing job this weekend and got super unlucky this morning on the second-last stage with this stone on the line. So yeah, it's hard because normally you should have a massive smile on your face when you win Finland, but at the moment I have really mixed emotions. I'm not really able to enjoy it yet, I hope I will still be able to do so because yeah it's still something special to win here.
Q: Has it been one of the most challenging ones for you or not?
SO: I've done too many to really rank them, but for sure it wasn't an easy one. In Finland, I think yeah probably... there was a lot of rain last year, I'm glad I wasn't there last year because it looked not so fun that time to drive. This time we had often showers there and there which made the grip very changeable, so not straightforward for sure and you see at the end, missing a couple of cars, a couple of Rally1 cars. Unfortunately too many from our team, I would have enjoyed also a lot a second place today celebrating a double with Kalle and Jonne.
Q: Vincent, tell me how you're feeling right now. It is top step of the podium but as Seb said, it's a little bit mixed emotions at the moment. How do you feel?
VL: Yeah the same as him, it's a bit mixed. I'm thinking about my friend Jonne because he should have won this rally because it's his home rally, so I'm thinking about him obviously. I'm quite happy to have won this rally once in my life at least but for the team also it's a bit sad. But otherwise I had a good weekend yeah, good push and good sensation in the car.
Q: It's been a couple of years since you've been at Rally Finland, you missed out, you've come back, you're on the top step of the podium. It means you're going to come back here next year right?
SO: I don't know but at least it was a good choice to add this one to the list of the year, which wasn't planned initially. But as I felt good on gravel with the car, we decided with the team let's go to Finland. I was really looking forward to driving these amazing stages and yeah, it didn't disappoint and the support was amazing so thank you guys. And you never know, maybe there will be more. I can't guarantee but you never know what life brings.
WRC2 winner: Oliver Solberg (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)
Q: We've seen a Solberg/Latvala battle out there which is reminiscent of 15 years ago. Oliver though you took the win, a superb win at Rally Finland. How are you feeling?
OS: It's an amazing feeling really, absolutely amazing. Rally Finland is the nicest but the most difficult rally of the year. So to win again this year is an incredible feeling, with points luckily this time so it was nice. But the fight with Jari-Matti has been really special for me all weekend really, because I remember in when my dad was driving for Ford, Jari-Matti was younger then and my dad was the old one.
Q: How old were you in 2012 Oliver Solberg?
OS: I'm not good at math, but 10 years old, 11? No but then I remember Jari-Matti from that time and he was my idol you know because he was always very nice and very kind. I remember his father also, and it was a great time and now to race against him is very special.
Q: You took the lead and you kept hold of it. You built that lead, you were so cool, calm, confident. Any hot moments out there to report or not?
OS: I had one hot moment, first pass of Ouninpohja, but otherwise it's been a clean, good weekend I have to say. I've been very happy. Friday was difficult to really know where to pace myself because they started so far behind that sometimes maybe I was a bit lucky with the weather and sometimes not, it's difficult to really know how it turned out the whole weekend really. But Saturday was much nicer and a little bit calmer, because at least then if Jari-Matti gave a big push I knew I could push straightaway, because sometimes on Friday he hadn't done the previous stage by the time I started the next. We were on two different stages at the same time.
WRC3 winner: Jesse Kallio (Ford Fiesta Rally3)
Q: You were second last year, first this year. For any Finn to win and be on the podium at Rally Finland is just perfect isn't it?
JK: Yeah for sure it's like a dream come true, a childhood dream. It's an amazing feeling because it was such a competitive field of cars in WRC3, and of course winning your home rally it's so special. I cannot imagine it yet. It's an amazing feeling.
Q: To win this year with over 20 Rally3 cars on the entry and so many in Junior WRC is important. You beat them all, so it's a proper, proper win
JK: Yeah for sure that was also important for me to be the fastest Rally3 car. A lot of cars but being the fastest of them it's even more special it's even more special than the victory itself. So I'm really happy with that.
Q: It wasn't an easy rally for anybody with the changeable weather, just how difficult was it?
JK: Yeah for sure, especially the Friday for me was really, really hard. I didn't find a rhythm in the wet and also the stages were in a really rough condition so I struggled a lot on Friday, but yeah on the Saturday I managed to get the feeling back and the stages were more suiting me, the faster ones and also the conditions were better, not too much rain and not too much ruts. So we managed to get a good feeling for the Saturday, so I think that was the key to the success.
Q: One of Saturday's stages was Ouninpohja, had you done it before?
JK: Yeah it was my first time doing the full Ouninpohja. Of course last year we did part of it but doing the whole Ouninpohja was also like a childhood dream for me, especially the first part, it's so crazy with the jumps and the corners all the time go over the crest. You are flying like in almost all the corners, so I cannot explain the feeling how crazy it is to go flat out on that stage. When you get to the finish of Ouninpohja it's a big, big release of the stress and everything because you are so committed, and it's also a long stage. It's like a big relief when you finish, and also with a good time it's a crazy, crazy feeling.
Q: What is next for you? When might we see you again in WRC?
JK: We'll see. Maybe not this year but I think we need to start working on next year, because I think we need to be in the WRC in some of the class to show our potential. I think this result is a really good start to work for next year, so it was really important to get this result to show the people we can be in the top.
Junior WRC winner: Taylor Gill (Ford Fiesta Rally3)
Q: Taylor, the win in Finland is of course a very good result
TG: Yeah it's quite special. It's obviously such a legendary event, and to come all the way from Australia and win this, it's pretty cool.
Q: And what do you think about our roads?
TG: It's incredible the roads in central Finland, amazing. So yeah hopefully we can be back competing on them very soon.
Q: What is your favourite special stage?
TG: I think it's hard to go past Ouninpohja. Actually the first time through it I didn't really enjoy it, I had quite a poor drive but made up for that on the second run, I was smiling during the stage.
Q: And your next rally in Finland is?
TG: Let's see.
(Photos of each on attachments)