Janne Tuohino took the victory in Arctic Lapland Rally
The first round of Finnish Rally Championship has been driven.
The Arctic Lapland Rally got a fresh winner, Janne Tuohino won the
rally for the first time.
Juuso Pykälistö started the day as the leader, but Tuohino had
today the good spirit. He took five out of nine stage winning
times, as Pykälistö succeeded only twice.
On stage 3 Kristian Sohlberg, who was running third, went a bit out
and broke his transmission trying to get out. He had to end his
rally there.
Pykälistös day was over after stage 12. He crashed with reindeers
that had unforunately got on the road and Pykälistö had to retire.
Also Jussi Välimäki, who already had had troubles with his Hyundai
Accent WRC on stage 9, but he stopped on the stage 12 beacause of
technical failure.
Pykälistö lead from stage 2 to stage 12, then Tuohino took the
position and lead all the way to the finish. Jouni Ampuja was
second with his Toyota Corolla WRC and the current Finnish Champion
Sebastian Lindholm was third on his Peugeot 206 WRC.
The "guest star" F1-driver Mika Häkkinen did a good job in his
Mitsubishi WRC2. He took it all the way to the finish and was 29th.
He was 20 minutes 2 seconds behind the winner Tuohino.
In group N, over 2-litres Hannu Hotanen was the winner. He was 5th
in the overall. He drives Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7. He competed
during the day with Jukka Ketomäki, but Ketomäki went out on stage
14, he managed to continue but lost three minutes. Second in class
was Juha Salo and third Marko Uutela.
Class grN, under 2-litres winner was Timo Mäenpää with Honda Civic
Type R and class A, under 2-litres winner was Tomi Tukiainen with
VW Golf Kitcar.
Arctic Lapland Rally 2003, top 10 results
1. Janne Tuohino, Ford Focus WRC, 2.16.48,1
2. Jouni Ampuja, Toyota Corolla WRC, -3.02,3
3. Sebastian Lindholm, Peugeot 206 WRC, -4.51,9
4. Jari Viita, Ford Focus WRC, -5.23,2
5. Hannu Hotanen, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, -5.34,3 (gr N winner)
6. Jouko Tiri, Subaru Imprezza 555, - 6.17,7
7. Juha Salo, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, -6.17,7 (gr N, 2.)
8. Timo Hulkkonen, Ford Focus WRC, -7.40,7
9. Marko Uutela, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, -7.58,5 (gr N, 3.)
10. Heikki Westerlund, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, - 8.00,6
For more information, please contact:
AKK Sports Ltd
Terhi Heloaho
GSM +358 40 586 8852
