The 70th running of Rally Finland on 1 – 3 October 2021 will pay homage to the inaugural event, with a sprint style event that harks back to the first running back in the autumn of 1951.
Spread across just two and a half days, nineteen special stages will test the WRC’s best drivers across 287.11km in an intense weekend of rallying that will also include night stages due to the shorter day light hours of October.
Shakedown will take place on Friday morning before the traditional rally opening in Jyväskylä, with the Harju stage marking the start of the rally proper on Friday afternoon. A further five stages will make up the rest of the day with two runs of Ässämäki either side of a run through the Sahloinen-Moksi test.
The Sahloinen-Moksi stage will then welcome the crews again after a tyre zone, with Oittila being the final stage of the day in the dark.
Saturday is the longest day of the event with nine stages, the opening test being Kakaristo-Hassi which will feature a new start and finish and contain sections of the legendary Ouninpohja stage. Crews then move on Päijälä, last seen in this layout in 2016. The remaining two stages of the morning are Arvaja and Patajoki, both new stages, but featuring roads last seen as part of the Vaheri and Himos stages back in 2010. The four stages are repeated before an evening return to Harju.
Sunday consists of two stages ran twice, Laukaa and Ruuhimäki. The final stage through Ruuhimäki will of course be the event finale Wolf Power Stage, with the podium held in the stage arena finish.
Clerk of the course Kai Tarkiainen said that several changes have been made to the route for 2021, to not only keep the event fresh but to also comply with restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Although we’re running over three days rather than four, we’ve ensured there will be as many stages and competitive kilometres as possible. Like we do every year, we have made several changes to the itinerary to keep things fresh and fun. The route has been completed in line with national and regional restrictions introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and can be modified at short notice, should any changes be necessary,” he said.
The rally will run in a later autumn date this year in the hope of welcoming spectators, and Tarkiainen is confident there will be no further issues to the event.
“Running the event without fans isn’t something we can do so we are all hopeful the continued rollout of the vaccination programme and all the other steps being taken will ensure the rally goes ahead as planned and we remain confident this will be the case.”
