Jukka Ketomäki wins his home rally in Pohjanmaa
Press release 14.6.2014
Jukka Ketomäki from Ylistaro has won overall and SM1 in SM Pohjanmaa Finnish Championship Rally. In the end, Ketomäki took the victory with his co-driver Kai Risberg by 19,2 seconds over Karl Kruuda from Estonia. Third place went to another southern neighbour, Kaspar Koitla, who added to a successful day for Estonia. Koitla was 30,7 seconds behind Ketomäki, the winner.
Similarly to the overall rally, Ketomäki and Kruuda were stars in SM1, where Ketomäki was first and Kruuda second .Third in the class was Jari Kihlman, who was 34,1 seconds behind Ketomäki. Ketomäki was all smiles after the rally.
- I can honestly say that this feels really good, and it is also quite a big relief. I didn´t really expect too much from this car, but luckily it made it to the finish this time. A great big thanks to everybody who has worked on the car. They even managed to set it up so well that we could fight for the win. It´s fantastic to win my home rally here in Pohjanmaa, Ketomäki commented at the finish.
Estonia´s Kaspar Koitla, who was third overall, celebrated victory in SM2. Koitla beat the reigning FRC champion Juha Salo by 16,3 seconds. Third in the class was Joni Nikko, who was 35,6 seconds behind Koitla.
- I have to be very satisfied with this rally because it went great and the result is fantastic. Our speed was good all day and the car went well on these roads so victory tastes good, the Estonian recalled his feelings at the finish of the rally.
Joonas Lindroos from Jämsä was the driver of the day in SM3 though Henri Haapamäki, who was second, put up a superb fight. The gap between them at the finish was only 7,9 seconds. Third in the class was Teemu Suninen, who lost 20,7 seconds to Lindroos.
On the last stage we hit a rock so it almost became exciting, but luckily the car made it to the finish. We had some minor problems during the day, but we managed to keep up a good speed and keep Haapamäki and Suninen behind us, Lindroos recapped the events of the rally.
The star in SM4 in Pohjanmaa was Ville Hautamäki, whose winning streak is now at two. Hautamäki won the class with a 47,8 seconds gap over Janne Seluska, who was second. Jarkko Savolainen was third in the class and at the end he was 1.02,4 minutes behind the winner, Hautamäki.
The last time I won here was in 2002 in an Opel Ascona. We had no problems with the car today, and when everything worked fine the times came kind of by themselves. We haven´t really had any major problems with the car during this season, but perhaps the problem has been that it hasn´t always suited my driving style. Now that we´ve got it working, the effect on the results is positive, Hautamäki analysed the victorious rally.
RESULTS
FRC 4/6
SM Pohjanmaa Finnish Championship Rally, Lapua 14.6.2014
SM1: 1) Jukka Ketomäki-Kai Risberg AL-Härmä/VUA Skoda 43:24,5; 2) Karl Kruuda- Martin Järvenoja LievUA Ford +0:19,2; 3) Jari Kihlman-Matti Heikkinen KuuUA Mitsubishi +0:34,1; 4) Jussi Vainionpää-Mika Juntunen OUA/Kaj-UA Mitsubishi +1:09,7; 5) Janne Eronen-Ville Mäkelä HAU/NuUA Mitsubishi +1:55,0; 6) Niko Veikkanen-Markus Räty HyUA/RiiUA Subaru +3:16,6
SM2 1) Kaspar Koitla-Mait Laidvee KaUA/TerUA Mitsubishi 43:55,2; 2) Juha Salo- Marko Salminen KaUA/NoorUA/MK Mitsubishi +0:16,3; 3) Joni Nikko- Jarno Ottman LaihUA/EspooUA Mitsubishi +0:35,6; 4) Teemu Asunmaa- Tuukka Shemeikka AlavUA/LapUA Subaru +0:51,7; 5) Kristian Kiviniemi-Matti Kangas ParkUA/LaihUA Mitsubishi +1:02,6; 6) Juha Koljonen-Mikko Tuhkanen TerUA Subaru +2:44,7
SM3 1) Joonas Lindroos-Pasi Kilpeläinen SAU/NokUA Citroen 47:01,1 2) Henri Haapamäki-Juha Lummaa SAU/NokUA Citroen +0:07,9; 3) Teemu Suninen-Juha-Pekka Jauhiainen HyUA Ford +0:20,7; 4) Joonas Tokee-Jani Salo OrSUA/AlavUA Peugeot +0:43,9; 5) Henri Kolsi-Antti Linnaketo LahUA/AAU Ford +1:07,7; 6) Jaakko Lavio-Jarno Manner AUK J-äijät/EPUA Ford +1:49,1
SM4 1) Ville Hautamäki-Ari-Pekka Hautanen JärvisUA Honda 46:34,8; 2) Janne Seluska-Rami Suorsa LakUA/KR-TEAM ry Honda +0:47,8; 3) Jarkko Savolainen-Timo Kurppa PertUA Honda +1:02,4; 4) Anssi Rytkönen-Kari Hyttinen PokyUA/Ratec Team Honda +1:43,0; 5) Joose Kojo-Sami Taskinen TerUA Citroen +1:47,5; 6) Tuomo Hassinen-Heikki Hassinen K-KUA Honda +1:55,3
FRC standings (top three)
SM1
1. Jarkko Nikara 66
2. Karl Kruuda 60
3. Ari Vihavainen 49,5
SM2
1. Joni Nikko 91
2. Kaspar Koitla 89,5
3. Teemu Asunmaa 62,5
SM3
1. Joonas Lindroos 88,5
2. Henri Haapamäki 80
3. Teemu Suninen 60
4. Samuli Vuorisalo 57,5
5. Henri Kolsi 4,5
SM4
1. Ville Hautamäki 107,5
2. Joose Kojo 73
3. Janne Seluska 59,5
Photos free for publishing: http://www.rallism.fi/kuvagalleria/2014/smpohjanmaaralli/default.html
Photos by Janne Pieviläinen
Photos free for publishing will also be sent to Lehtikuva photo service.
More info:
FRC communications
Terhi Heloaho
040 6822662
