This was my fourth time participating in the Lapland Rally and the goal was to drive in the top ten because I had never had a successful race here. In 2024, we did reach the finish line, but the result was not very good.
Now the race started nicely and the car felt really good and it was nice to drive together with Janni Hussi again.
There would be great special tests ahead, e.g. the legendary stages Autiovaara and Murtotunturi had been taken back to the race and that’s why I also wanted to go to this race to drive.
The race went well without any problems. We raced from sixth place all the way to the last stage. Up until then, everything had gone really smoothly, but on the second last stage, the car started to show some symptoms. There was a malfunction of the engine which we tried to repair in the service, but without success.
At the last stage, Sarriojärvi, the engine only ran on three cylinders, so we lost almost 2 minutes. For this reason, the final ranking dropped to eighth.
When I came to the finish line, I was quite disappointed, because we had fought for sixth place, but I had to be satisfied, because the original goal of the top ten was achieved. Afterwards, the ranking felt really good.
Co-driver: Janni Hussi
Car: Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD (ST185)
Service team: JML-Sports Oy
