Typical Finland from a rallying perspective: The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has started its eighth round of the season with a real taste of what is to come. At the shakedown in the Rally Finland, the Volkswagen works duos Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN), Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia and Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger completed the track – characterised by plenty of full throttle and long jumps – with the three best times.
The Polo R WRC is yet to be beaten in the pacey rallies in Finland and Poland, although it will be incredibly difficult for Volkswagen to continue this streak in light of strong rivals who have a slight advantage when it comes to starting positions. Latvala/Anttila reached a high average speed of 125.50 km/h in the shakedown. So the Rally Finland is picking up where it left off last year: The 2015 edition went down as the fastest rally in WRC history.
The eighth round of the WRC gets underway on Thursday evening with the short first stage “Harju”, before the first 150 kilometres against the clock on Friday. There are a total of 24 special stages covering 333.60 kilometres to master.
Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #1
“Coming to Finland is always the highlight of the season. The tracks are fantastic, the adrenalin is higher than anywhere else here when you are flying through the forest at 200 km/h. Which is why it was very important for me to take part in testing in advance to get the right feeling for the car and track. I didn’t take part in testing ahead of Poland because my son had just been born. The shakedown was flawless, the Polo is tuned perfectly. Nevertheless, it won’t be an easy weekend for me, even Juha Kankkunen predicted that my starting position is far from advantageous in the current conditions.”
