The 2021 WRC season enters its final stretch. With three tests to be contested, the Rally Finland It is the first obligatory stop for the drivers and teams of the championship. The fast stages of the Scandinavian country draw the perfect setting to host the fight for the World Championship, for the constructors’ title and for the winded ones of the WRC2 and WRC3 categories. Nevertheless, Rally Finland has a reduced entry list compared to previous years and in its sections they will meet 43 crews. The bulk of the participants is made up of ten World Rally Cars, eight ‘Rally2’ vehicles in the silver category and fourteen in WRC3.
In the premier class, few surprises. Toyota Gazoo Racing will have five World Rally Cars in action in Rally Finland thanks to the incorporation of Esapekka Lappi, as already announced. The local driver will be at the controls of a Toyota Yaris WRC managed by RTE Motorsport. In addition, and as usual, Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä will pilot the official units of the Japanese vehicle, while Takamoto katsuta will be at the controls of the Toyota Yaris WRC framed in the ‘team B’ of the formation. The Japanese firm starts as a favorite to victory by quality, pace and number of cars.
Toyota’s great rival will be Hyundai with a lineup made up of Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Craig Breen. The Irishman thus returns to the third Hyundai i20 WRC Coupé in a test that, like Rally Estonia, perfectly suits his driving style. Finally, M-Sport returns to its traditional two-car bet after the presence of Jourdan Serderidis at the Acropolis Rally. With no more options within its reduced roster of pilots, The two Ford Fiesta WRCs will be driven by Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux, the latter with a co-driver yet to be defined after the break with Renaud Jamoul.
Among the eight ‘Rally2’ present in WRC2 are the strongest drivers in the category. Well it is true that Andreas Mikkelsen and Marquito Bulacia will not be present in Finland, but yes it will take the exit Mads ostberg with the Citroën. Oliver Solberg and Jari Huttunen will seek victory with the new Hyundai i20 N Rally2, while Teemu suninen returns to the category with the Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 that Esapekka Lappi would have driven under normal conditions. For its part, in WRC3 we found a large volume of local pilots with permission from Paulo Nobre and two Spanish pilots like Pepe López and Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz.