Lindholm and Korhonen to drive with Škoda in The Finnish Rally Championship Series 2020
Team GRX’s Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen will be competing in the upcoming season with Team TGS Worldwide’s Škoda Fabia R5 Evo, team led by Toni Gardemeister. The Finnish Rally Championship series 2020 will form the core of the twosome’s driving schedule. Negotiations on the additional rallies for WRC-series are still pending.
Team GRX’s Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen will return to Škoda after one season. The past season with Volkswagen has been a successful one so there is some melancholy in the transfer.
“I want to thank Volkswagen and Printsport Racing led by Eero Räikkönen for their excellent cooperation. We started with Eero in the R5-class and together won our first FRC-event”, Lindholm says.
“My team and I ended up with Škoda because we saw this transfer as an important step forward in my driving career. Many things will change from last season, but before Christmas we will start working on being ready for the upcoming season which begins mid-January in Rovaniemi”, Lindholm points out.
At a press conference between Škoda and Team TGS Worldwide, Lindholm was pleased to hear comments from team manager Gardemeister, that TGS has been able to improve the performance of the new Fabia R5 Evo several steps further through out the end of this past year. Gardemeister says that the new Fabia R5 Evo still has a lot of development potential.
“I look forward to seeing how the new Škoda feels after Volkswagen. The new Fabia R5 Evo is lighter and more powerful than it’s previous model. Of course the car is already showing good results from WRC-series. It is nice to hear that there still is potential in the new car. It is also fun for the driver when you get to be part of the driving development”, Lindholm says.
Lindholm tells that he has good memories from the season before last with Škoda. The goal is to drive a full and intact season in FRC-series.
“We have six FRC rallies ahead of us. One rally less than this past year, so to succeed in this series we can’t suffer from big mistakes and that’s why I strive for a whole, complete season. Our goal is to win the Finnish Rally Championship in SM1-class and even though we are driving the FRC-series, we are constantly working to expand our driving programme to the WRC”, Lindholm clarifies.
There will be six rallies in the 2020 Finnish Rally Championship series: three in winter and three in summer. Compared to 2019 calendar there have been some changes, most notable of which in the winter season Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi is being held one week earlier and SM-Vaakuna Rally in Mikkeli returns to be the second FRC event being held in February.
The FRC summer season will start in Kouvola, after which there will be a whole new rally for the present-day Finnish Championship Series driven in Oulu region in the beginning of September. The season ends in the surroundings of Seinäjoki, in the traditional Pohjanmaa-rally.
In the season 2019 Lindholm and Korhonen finished the FRC series in SM1-class on third place, winning bronze medals.
FRC SERIES 2020:
16.-18.1. Arctic Lapland Rally, Rovaniemi
7.-8.2. SM Vaakuna-Ralli, Mikkeli
28.-29.2. SM-Itäralli, Joensuu
12.-13.6. SM O.K-Auto Ralli, Kouvola
4.-5.9. SM Ralli, Oulu
25.-26.9. Pohjanmaa SM-Ralli, Seinäjoki
Photo: Marko Mäkinen
