Steady drive keeps Asunmaa in the Championship lead
Teemu Asunmaa has finished third in the second round of Finnish Rally Championship, IsoValkeinen SM Ralli, held in Kuopio. Third place keeps Asunmaa in the points lead going into the third event of the season. For the next event of the championship, Asunmaa is behind the wheel of the new-generation Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Teemu Asunmaa, 35, along with his co-driver Ville Mannisenmäi, 27, have finished third in the second event of the FRC season, IsoValkeinen SM Ralli, held in Kuopio. Third place finish on the snowy and fast stages of Kuopio keep Asunmaa in the championship lead.
Asunmaa gave his co-competitors an early wake-up call by winning the first two stages. On the morning loop-ending stages 3 and 4 Asunmaa was third fastest, and was third in class by the time of the service break.
-Pretty much mistake-free drive and steady pace all throughout the leg. Some places have a bit of loose snow, but other than that our starting order of third hasn’t affected us too much. For the rest of the leg we need to increase our pace a bit. The weather and the stages are phenomenal, and a big thank you to organisers for the stages.
On the second leg of the day Asunmaa was third fastest in all four stages, finishing third overall and in class by the end of the event. A solid number of points at the finish keeps Asunmaa in the championship lead.
-We made sure to take home a good amount of points. I tried to attack a few times, but it didn’t succeed as I had hoped for, and thus it was wiser to drive steadily to finish. We were elevated for the position of first car on the road, and it might have affected our performance a bit, but it’s the name of the game.
Third-place finish brings with it a solid amount of points, enough to keep Asunmaa in the championship lead by six points. For the next round of the championship Asunmaa fields the new-generation Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
-A big thank you to our cooperation partners and service crew. This was likely the last event we’ll do with this car, we’ve driven a fair amount of those already. We’ll be driving the new Skoda in Jyväskylä next month.
FRC season continues in Jyväskylä in 3rd to 4th of March.
Overall results:
|
1. |
Jari Huttunen |
44:41,4 |
|
Skoda Fabia R5 |
|
2. |
Juha Salo |
44:43,5 |
+2,1 |
Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
|
3. |
Teemu Asunmaa |
44:54,4 |
+13,0 |
Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
|
4. |
Lauri Joona |
45:36,1 |
+54,7 |
Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
|
5. |
Roope Korhonen |
45:38,8 |
+57,4 |
Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
|
Photo: Merita Mäkinen
