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Janne Tuohino wins overall and SM(FRC)1

25.01.2014 / Janne Tuohino wins overall and SM(FRC)1

Press release 25.1.2014
Finnish Rally Championship
Round 1/6 Arctic Lapland Rally, Rovaniemi 24.-25.1.2014

Day 2

sm1_podium_jannetuohino.jpg - pienennetty

When Karl Kruuda, the Estonian who currently represents Lievestuoreen UA autosports club, suffered from the dusting snow of his fellow competitors and lost about two minutes on the third stage, the top three in SM(FRC)1 (Super4) in Arctic Lapland Rally, which is the opening round of the Finnish Rally Championship, was a very familiar Finnish trio. It was two days of driving under the command of Janne Tuohino in the Rovaniemi fell scenery. Tuohino was too fast for everybody this weekend.

´The last two stages were mostly just cruising and playing it safe, and we didn´t take any risks. I must admit, though, that in a couple of places I drove flat out because it felt so great. This feels very good after a three years´ break from rallying,´ Tuohino confessed.

Jarkko Nikara from Saarijärvi struggled with power problems in his car and couldn´t fight Tuohino, but he kept his ground and the second place until the finish line. ´I don´t know what the exact problem was, which is not nice, but luckily we made it to the finish´ Nikara chatted at the finish.

´Besides, it could well be that you forget your worries and second place tastes good when you get the trophy into your lap.´

Riku Tahko, who now lives in Porvoo, has got himself a Mini for this season. Getting used to the car took some time in the beginning, but he gradually managed to adjust the car to his liking and driving started to feel good.
´It´s getting better all the time and it´s going nicely. We are able to fight Nikara and even Tuohino a bit. We have tried different set-ups and other tricks and tried to learn how they work´ Tahko explained when arriving at the service on Saturday afternoon.

Tahko had problems on the last two stages, which made it easier for Nikara to fight for the second place.

In Heinunkierto (SS9/10) we went flat out into a left-hand corner where there was a lump of ice in the middle of the road. We drove straight over it and broke the radiator. We managed to continue for a while, but the engine temperature got high and we had to stop to cool it down. It´s a pity because we were improving our performance most of the time.´

On the last stage Tahko lost five and a half minutes when the car refused to work. This meant that third place in SM(FRC)1 changed into seventh.

Tahko´s problems helped Jussi Vainionpää from Kempele to move up in the standings. He got the third place in the class.

Kaspar Koitla from Estonia wins SM(FRC)2

It was not difficult to guess who the favourite in SM(FRC)2 in Arctic Lapland Rally was. Juha Salo started with the aim of taking already his fifth win in Arctic Lapland Rally.

After the first five stages Salo was clearly in the lead in his class and he was also the overall leader. The gap to Janne Tuohino was half a minute. At the pre-event press conference Salo had admitted that he was serious about winning again.

´We had a few problems with the car the night before the start and we had to change the head gasket. The service fixed everything and now it´s going well. We got a lot of more power in the car now because we are now allowed to use race fuel´ Salo told in the evening of day one.

The second day of the rally changed it all. Salo had to retire on the opening stage due to overheating engine. ´The water hose broke and we had no choice but to retire. We are now sitting in a marshal´s car trying to keep warm in minus 30 degrees,´ Salo told on the phone from the stage.

With Salo out of the rally, Joni Nikko inherited the lead. Nikko was not happy with his first day and didn´t believe a good result was possible.

The fight for second and third place in the class was between Esa Ruotsalainen and Kaspar Koitla. Koitla had had a lot of problems with the dusting snow during the first day. On Saturday Koitla got up to a good speed and neither Esa Ruotsalainen nor Joni Nikko could keep him behind. Koitla snatched the victory with a superb performance on the 49 kms stage. ´I´m so happy. This was a surprise because we didn´t want to try too hard. On the last stages we aimed at making it to the finish,´ Koitla commented.

Koitla was also helped by Nikko´s puncture. The difference between them was 3,7 seconds.

Samuli Vuorisalo fastest in the two-wheel drive SM(FRC)3

Samuli Vuorisalo won the two-wheel drive SM(FRC)3 (R2) class in Arctic Lapland Rally. Still, he fretted about not being able to get more out of himself. ´My driving is not too good. It would be much nicer if you could just drive as fast as you can, but if you want to finish you must keep calm,´ the young man said.

That produced a good result while fellow competitors in his class faced problems one after the other - either technical or snow-related.

´The feeling is good. Probably we didn´t drive quite as fast as we should, but rallying is tough and there´s always something happening in motorsports. At the end we had only one-wheel drive, which made it a bit difficult,´ Vuorisalo revealed.

The young Joonas Tokee, who was in his first Arctic Lapland Rally, had a memorable event. He set the fastest time on the first stage and he was running in second place after SS2, but then things started to happen.

´On SS3 there was a jam and we had to drive in the dust. We went off properly. We lost the game there even though we were able to continue,´ Tokee fretted.

Saturday´s starting order was an additional challenge to him. A bunch of slower cars started in front of him and he had to overtake many of them on the stages.

Ville Hautamäki unstoppable in SM(FRC)4

Ville Hautamäki was by far the fastest driver in SM(FRC)4 (Super2) in Arctic Lapland Rally. He was the fastest 2WD driver in the whole event and set the fastest time in his class on every stage.

´It is never easy, even though it may seem so. It is a good result considering that I´ve had a long break from driving without any practice,´ Hautamäki told.

Photos free for publishing: http://www.rallism.fi/kuvagalleria/2014/arcticlaplandrally242512014/default.html Photos by Toni Ollikainen
Live results and more detailed information available at: http://www.rallism.fi/en/
During the rally we also have live GPS-tracking on our website.

Itinerary of Arctic Lapland Rally: http://www.arcticrally.fi/index.php/competitors/itinerary

RESULTS
10/10 SS
SM1: Super4

1) Janne Tuohino-Markku Tuohino KR-Team ry Ford 2.08,02; 2) Jarkko Nikara-Timo Hantunen SaaUA/JyvUA Mitsubishi +2.30,4 3) Jussi Vainionpää-Mika Juntunen OUA/KajUA Mitsubishi +4.33,4; 4) Mikko Eskelinen-Arto Kapanen JyvUA/PetUA Mitsubishi +5.40,3; 5) Roland Murakas-Kalle Adler KaUA Mitsubishi +5.42,3

SM2: Production4
1) Kaspar Koitla-Mait Laidvee KaUA/TerUA Mitsubishi 2.13.02,0; 2) Joni Nikko-Jarno Ottman LaihUA/EspooUA Mitsubishi +3,7; 3) Esa Ruotsalainen-Enni Mälkönen SaaUA/LamUA Mitsubishi +9,1;4) Kristian Kiviniemi-Matti Kangas ParkUA/LaihUA Mitsubishi +5.37,9; 5) Teemu Asunmaa-Tomi Ikonen AlavUA/NilUA Subaru +5.50,1; 6) Evgeny Cherkasov-Mikko Lukka RiiUA/NuUA Subaru +9.59,9

SM3:R2
1) Samuli Vuorisalo-Eetu-Pekka Hellsten KySUA/TamUA Ford 2.24.37,3; 2) Henri Haapamäki-Lasse Hirvijärvi SAU/EPUA Citroën +2.03,8; 3) Matias Kauppinen-Jonne Halttunen SaaUA/PetUA Citroën +2.36,5; 4) Henri Kolsi-Antti Linnaketo LahUA/AAU Ford +5.17,5; 5) Max Vatanen-Mikael Korhonen TuupoMK/UA/LahUA Ford +5.44,4; 6) Jori Nousiainen-Tero Rönnemaa LapinAU/RaisUA Ford +5.50.9

SM4:Super 2
Luokka SM4: 1) Ville Hautamäki-Ari-Pekka Hautanen JärviSUA Honda 2.23.36,0; 2) Joose Kojo-Sami Taskinen TerUA Citroën +4.34,0; 3) Tuomo Hassinen-Heikki Hassinen K-KUA Honda +4.43,3;4) Janne Seluska-Markku Tenhula LakUA/OUA Honda +9.16,9; 5) Kimmo Linden-Pasi Haataja TapUA Honda +14.36,7; 6) Kimmo Immonen-Kimmo Pahkala SuonUA/PetUA Ford +24.09,5
Finnish Rally Championship points:
SM1: 1) Janne Tuohino 37,5; 2) Jarkko Nikara 30; 3) Jussi Vainionpää 24; 4) Mikko Eskelinen 16,5; 5) Roland Murakas 15; SM2: 1) Kaspar Koitla 37,5; 2) Joni Nikko 30; 3) Esa Ruotsalainen 24; 4) Kristian Kiviniemi 19,5; 5) Teemu Asunmaa 16,5; SM3: Samuli Vuorisalo 37,5; 2) Henri Haapamäki 30; 3) Matias Kauppinen 24; 4) Henri Kolsi 19,5; 5) Max Vatanen 16,5; SM4: 1) Ville Hautamäki 37,5; 2) Joose Kojo 30; 3) Tuomo Hassinen24; 4) Janne Seluska 19,5; 5) Kimmo Linden 16,5;

Teams: 1) Printsport 2 75; 2) L.A.D.-Service 67,5; 3) Printsport 1 60; 4) Hannu´s Rally Team 43,5; 5) Suzor Rally Team 19,5; 6) John Dohmen Rally Team 16,5


More information:
Terhi Heloaho, communications
+358 40 6822662
terhi.heloaho@autourheilu.fi
www.rallism.fi

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