The last time Suninen competed was at Rally Finland last summer. That event effectively marked the end of his collaboration with Hyundai’s WRC2 team.
Since then, the Finnish driver has been without a team. However, at this weekend’s Arctic Lapland Rally, Suninen will be back in action – though not behind the wheel.
Instead, Suninen will take on the role of co-driver for Ville Kaukonen, who is better known from the world of drifting and is making his rally debut. Suninen is also venturing into the unknown, as he has no prior experience of navigating in a rally weekend.
Suninen faced something new even before the Arctic Lapland Rally’s competition week. For the first time in his career, he properly read through the event regulations – something that is typically the responsibility of the co-driver.
Before the rally, Kaukonen and Suninen conducted a test session in a BMW 325, rented from Teemu Asunmaa’s team. Suninen, who has competed in the WRC for several years, also provided Kaukonen with driver coaching.
The duo’s Arctic adventure properly began on Tuesday with the recce.
“I’ve never seen Ville so quiet as during recce at Murtotunturi. But hopefully, experience will help him fill the gaps and make good pace notes so that he can drive with confidence,” Suninen smiled.
It’s rare for a driver to be silent during recce – especially on the first pass, when they dictate the notes to the co-driver.
“Sometimes I lose interest a bit if we’re going really slowly or I’m not quite sure where the road is turning. At one point, I found myself thinking about Lauri Joona’s recce car tyres. Then Teemu pointed out that I’d been quiet for a while, and I realised I needed to get back into the right mindset,” Kaukonen laughed.
Kaukonen got the idea to compete at the Arctic Rally a year ago while watching the event online from Gran Canaria. A wild idea eventually turned into a concrete project, and he managed to convince Suninen to join him.
“What interests me in this project is that by crossing over between different disciplines, you can learn a lot. Drifting drivers do social media really well and handle certain aspects of their careers better than rally drivers. I want to learn from that.”
“If I do more driver coaching in the future, this experience will also give me a better understanding of the co-driver’s role. That way, I can develop my trainees more effectively,” Suninen said.
During recce, Suninen also felt a strong urge to get back behind the wheel. Among the special stages, Murtotunturi, which he had already mentioned, left a lasting impression.
“For the top cars, it’s a decisive stage. The fastest drivers will definitely go on the attack there, and it will likely be one of the key tests in the SM1 class. I felt a real itch to get behind the wheel myself and push hard,” Suninen admitted.
“But I think we’ll be approaching this with a slightly different strategy. This could turn into a survival battle,” he summed up.
Kaukonen and Suninen will compete in the Suomi Cup, which runs alongside the Finnish Rally Championship event in Rovaniemi.
