The demanding schedule began with the Terras d’Aboreira Rally in Portugal at the start of May. Korhonen secured fourth place in the warm-up event for Rally Portugal. Having won the Finnish Championship last season, Korhonen headed straight from Portugal to the Rally of Hungary, where he claimed victory on his European Championship debut.
There was little time for Korhonen and co-driver Anssi Viinikka to celebrate the Hungarian win, as they flew back to Portugal on Sunday, with reconnaissance for the WRC round beginning on Monday. In Rally Portugal, Korhonen secured another fourth place.
Following Rally Portugal, the Finnish duo had a rare weekend off before returning to action at the European Rally Championship round in Sweden on the final weekend of May. Korhonen’s strong run continued in Sweden with a second-place finish. From there, the journey went on to Rally Sardinia and then straight to the ERC round in Poland.
“I think it’s good for my career. A lot of new rallies for us also – new stages, new pacenotes, so really good practice and learning. Of course you can’t prepare each rally so good or maybe how you want. So I think it’s one minus thing,” Korhonen explains on DirtFish’s website.
“But yeah, of course it helps when you can get so much seat time in a rally car. You get a good rhythm.”
In May, Korhonen was in strong form, claiming a win and a second place in the European Championship, as well as a fourth-place finish in the WRC2 category of a World Rally Championship round. In June, however, things took a downturn when Korhonen crashed his car in both Sardinia and Poland. In Poland, the Finnish driver was once again in the fight for victory. Despite the two retirements, it can be said that the first half of Korhonen’s year was a good one.
The early summer schedule was made even more demanding by the distinctly different nature of the events and the change in tyre suppliers between WRC and ERC rallies. In the World Rally Championship, competitors run on Hankook tyres, whereas in the European Championship, Korhonen represents the Indian brand MRF.
“However when you change the tires, you always need to adjust the car also and make some small setup changes and learn what is the grip with these tires. So it takes a bit of time [to adjust] when you jump between,” Korhonen says.
“When you drive in Sardinia where stages are really slow and narrow and then you go to Poland where you have to push flat out all the time, I struggle a bit with pacenotes between these rallies. So it can be one thing.”
