This year, the Super Sunday of Rally Finland was shortened to just two stages. The schedule consisted solely of the legendary Ouninpohja special stage, driven twice.
There were many positives in this arrangement. Firstly, fans could spend the entire Sunday in the same place, and secondly, the workload for drivers and co-drivers was considerably eased.
The first run through Ouninpohja did not get underway until 10:35 in the morning, which meant longer sleep for the crews – and perhaps for some enthusiastic fans as well.
Jonne Halttunen, co-driver for rally winner Kalle Rovanperä, was very pleased with the organisers’ decision.
“It should be the norm in the future,” Halttunen said, according to Dirtfish.
“Becauce the people have already gone the day before in camper vans through the stage, they can spend all day. So for us but also for the audience this is something we have to look for the future,” Halttunen continued.
“And also we don’t have to wake up at 5am, we can sleep well, we are happy and can speak to people and not be grumpy in the morning! This is a good format for everybody.”
One of the aspects of the World Rally Championship that has drawn criticism in recent years is precisely that the rally days tend to be extremely long. They start before sunrise and finish after sunset.
The concept is exhausting not only for the crews, but also for the spectators.
“Nobody would go and watch Formula 1 if it started at 7am in the morning, so it’s starting at a good time. Long days are no issue but we have to also think about the audience and who will come and at what time, so for me it’s brilliant and the stage is brilliant,” Halttunen praised.
