Representing the Rautio Motorsport team, Korhonen and his co-driver Anssi Viinikka were testing their equipment for the upcoming Riihimäki Rally when reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä made an appearance. Korhonen and Rovanperä are good friends.
Rovanperä had recently been vacationing in Asia.
“The first test session of the season and this guy came from Thailand to kick the tires,” Korhonen joked in his Instagram story.
Korhonen will compete in Riihimäki in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car rented from Printsport, with which he drove his first meters on Wednesday. Korhonen, who won the WRC3 championship last year, is one of the top favorites in the SM1 class.
“When we reached the stage winning speed last season, there’s no intention to compromise on that. We plan to run tests on a couple of different roads this week and through good groundwork, try to get the best possible start to the season,” Korhonen stated.
Riihimäki Rally is scheduled for Saturday. The competition will include a total of nine special stages, accumulating over a hundred kilometers in length.
“We drove there a couple of years ago. If I recall correctly, there was a terrible snowstorm, but the route was great. Let’s hope it doesn’t snow this year when we start first on the road. However, we shouldn’t worry too much about that but take it as an experience and aim to start first in the future as well,” Korhonen planned.
