Joona and his co-driver Janni Hussi eventually placed third in the WRC2 class in Finland. Ahead of them were the overwhelmingly victorious Oliver Solberg and the most experienced driver in the WRC, Jari-Matti Latvala, who debuted with Toyota’s Rally2 car.
However, Joona was clearly defeated by Latvala. The current Toyota boss, who last seriously competed in a rally five years ago, beat Joona by well over half a minute.
Nevertheless, Joona was satisfied after the race.
“One has to be quite satisfied with what we achieved. Especially Saturday, which has often been a bit of an off day for us, went perfectly this time. Even on Sunday, we were still able to push fully and stay in the fight,” Joona recapped his competition.
Joona prepared for the Rally Finland by participating in the HYACenter Rally. Joona won the race when Elfyn Evans, driving a Toyota Rally1 car, conceded victory to the Finn. However, Joona gained valuable experience from the competition and was able to adjust the car to perform better.
“We made setup changes to the car before Poland, and during the tests, we found a bit more and improved the car. Now the car is such that if you dare to push it to the limit, it will go. At the beginning of the season, we struggled a bit with the car, but now that aspect is sorted, at least for these kinds of competitions,” Joona explained.
This year, the Rally Finland returned to its roots, incorporating legendary stages. Saturday featured the iconic Ouninpohja special stage, over 30 kilometres long, twice. Additionally, the itinerary included Västilä and Päijälä.
“In my opinion, the route this year was a perfect ten! It was really good to run loops of three stages. That’s just the optimum. Saturday was especially great, with the very fast Västilä and then Päijälä and Ouninpohja, which are such legendary jump stages. You couldn’t have asked for much better,” Joona praised.
According to Joona, almost everything was left on the stages, and the rally couldn’t have been driven much better.
“We definitely felt, especially on Saturday, that we gave it our all. Of course, you can probably always go a bit faster, but we can be satisfied with this race,” Joona concluded.
In the WRC2 class, two stood out above the rest. Next year, Jari-Matti Latvala, who will turn 40, drove superbly.
“Jari-Matti can surely be satisfied with his performance. He had a break from driving, although he has certainly driven all kinds of vehicles for decades and even drove a Rally1 car here last year,” Joona commended.
“In a way, his performance wasn’t surprising, but on the other hand, it was surprising that he could match the pace so well. Hats off to him,” Joona laughed.
