WRC - Arctic Rally Finland - Preview

Sport news The event is new on the WRC schedule for 2021, replacing the cancelled Rally Sweden as the season’s only pure winter contest. It will be based in Rovaniemi – capital of Finland’s northernmost Lapland province – and will have stages taking place inside the Arctic Circle, where temperatures can dip below -30°C. The roads should have a good coating of ice and snow, but special studded tyres will provide remarkable grip and help make this one of the season’s fastest rallies. The Toyota team tops both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships after a one-two finish on the opening round Rallye Monte-Carlo with Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans - plus fourth for Kalle Rovanperä , who could contend for his maiden WRC triumph on home ground. The most experienced of the championship regulars in the Arctic is in fact the fourth Yaris WRC driver Takamoto Katsuta, who competed there three times as part of his tutoring programme in Finland. Hyundai will aim to fight back with Thierry Neuville, third in Monte-Carlo, and Ott Tänak, who will be keen to score maximum points after retiring from round one. Craig Breen takes over from Dani Sordo in the team’s third car. In total, there will be five Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC entries, with Pierre-Louis Loubet to be joined in the 2C Competition team by 19-year-old Oliver Solberg - the son of 2003 World Champion Petter Solberg making his debut at the sport’s top level. Four examples of the Ford Fiesta WRC will also be present: Alongside M-Sport team regulars Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith, Italy’s Lorenzo Bertelli will make his first appearance since 2019, and Janne Tuohino, a two-time rally winner in the Arctic, will drive a Fiesta entered by the Janpro team. The FIA WRC2 field grows to 10 cars, with championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen in a Toksport-entered Škoda Fabia Evo joined by another outright rally winner and 2020 WRC contender, Esapekka Lappi in a Movisport-prepared Volkswagen Polo GTI – the same car as his teammate Nicolay Gryazin. Lappi’s fellow countryman and FIA WRC3 champion Jari Huttunen steps up alongside Ole Christian Veiby at Hyundai Motorsport N. France’s Adrien Fourmaux is in a M-Sport Ford Fiesta Mk II, Bolivia’s Marco Bulacia in a Škoda Fabia Evo with Toksport, Saintéloc enters a Citroën C3 for Sean Johnston and Georg Linnamäe completes the FIA WRC2 line-up with another Volkswagen Polo GTI entered by ALM Motorsport. There are 22 entries in FIA WRC3, with national champion Teemu Asunmaa leading a huge Finnish contingent. FIA World RX champions Johan Kristoffersson and Mattias Ekström will fly the flag for Sweden, the latter making his first WRC start for 15 years.   THE 2021 ROUTE Arctic Rally Finland will be made up of 10 stages in total, and 251.08 competitive kilometres. The action starts with a Shakedown on Friday morning followed later in the day by the first two competitive stages of the rally. These will both be run over the 31.05 kilometres of Sarriojärvi – the longest stage of the weekend – and the second pass will take place in darkness. Saturday takes the form of a repeated loop of three stages, also finishing after dusk. The rally concludes on Sunday with two passes of Aittajärvi, with the latter pass serving as the Power Stage.   RALLY DATA Total distance: 856.05 km Stage distance: 251.08 km (29.33%) Number of stages: 10   MEDIA ACCREDITATION Media accreditation and attendance is strictly managed with modified terms under COVID-19 regulations. Media accreditation must be collected personally by accredited Pass Holders at the Accreditation Desk located at the Ice Hockey Arena of the Santasport Service park with a separate entrance and a specific parking for Profile 1 and Profile 2 attendees respectively (address: Santasport, Hiihtomajantie 2, 96400 Rovaniemi, Finland). The opening hours are:  Tuesday, February 23: 14:00-19:00 Wednesday, February 24: 08:00-19:00 Thursday, February 25: 08:00-19:00   2021 ARCTIC RALLY FINLAND TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES Tuesday, February 23   Promo event for invited drivers, Arctic Circle (open to accredited PH only) 10:30 – 14:00     Thursday, February 25   Mandatory media safety briefing via video conference (details TBC) 14:00 hrs Group photo for invited Finnish drivers, Santa Sport Ice Hockey Arena 15:45 hrs FIA Press Conference, via video conference (details TBC) 16:00 hrs - FIA WRC3 16:00 hrs - FIA WRC2 16:10 hrs - FIA WRC 16:20 hrs     Friday, February 26   Shakedown for P1 and nominated drivers, Vennivaara 08:30 – 09:30 Shakedown for all Priority drivers (optional), Vennivaara 09:30 – 11:00 Shakedown for non-priority drivers (Optional), Vennivaara 11:00 – 12:30 Group photo for P1 crews, Santa Sport Ice Hockey Arena 12:50 hrs Start of the rally (Section 1), SP Santasport 13:30 hrs First car arrives for media zone, technical zone & service, SP 20:08 hrs     Saturday, February 27   Start of Section 3, SP Santasport 07:35 hrs First car arrives for media zone, regroup, technical zone & service, SP 13:20 hrs First car arrives for media zone, technical zone & service, SP 19:58 hrs     Sunday, February 28   Start of Section 5, Santasport SP 08:45 hrs First car arrives for media zone, regroup, technical zone & service, SP 11:08 hrs Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Power Stage finish  14:00 hrs (approx.) First car arrives for media zone after having checked in at TC10B, SP TBD FIA Press Conference, via video conference (details TBC) 15:45 hrs   FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE Thursday, February 25 FIA WRC3   Teemu Asunmaa (FIN)   Johan Kristoffersson (SWE)   Mattias Ekström (SWE)   FIA WRC2   Sainteloc Junior Team – Sean Johnston (USA)   Hyundai Motorsport N – Jari Huttunen (FIN)    Movisport – Esapekka Lappi (FIN)   FIA WRC   Toyota Gazoo Racing – Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)   Hyundai Motorsport – Thierry Neuville (BEL)   M-Sport – Gus Greensmith (GBR)   Hyundai 2C Competition – Oliver Solberg (NOR)     Sunday, February 28 Winning FIA WRC3 Championship driver   Winning FIA WRC2 Championship driver   Top three drivers in the overall classification   Representative of the winning manufacturer   2021 ARCTIC RALLY FINLAND, MANUFACTURER ENTRIES Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1)   Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (#33)   Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen (#69)     Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8)   Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11)   Craig Breen (IRL) / Paul Nagle (ILR) (#42)     M-Sport Ford WRT Teemu Suninen / Jarmo Lehtinen (#3)   Gus Greensmith / Elliott Edmonson (#44)   2021 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link: https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2021/standings   World Rally Championship Arctic Rally Finland WRC SEASON 2021 Sport Rallies 1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2021Arctic Rally Finland01 Friday, February 19, 2021 - 7:10pm Friday, February 19, 2021 - 7:10pm