Rautio Motorsport’s Finnish talents Tuukka Kauppinen and Roope Korhonen took part in the Rally Regione Piemonte, held in Alba over the weekend. Both drivers ultimately faced a harsh fate.
The rally kicked off on Friday evening with a short spectator stage, where Korhonen started by finishing 7.7 seconds slower than stage winner Andrea Crugnola, placing him 11th at that point.
Saturday featured the rally’s longest day. After the first three stages on Saturday, Korhonen was ninth in the overall classification but had already dropped more than half a minute behind the leader.
On the following loop, the Finn was able to improve his pace and climbed up to seventh place, but by then, the gap to the front had grown to over a minute.
Sunday’s challenge was increased by occasional rain. Competing on wet asphalt for the first time, Korhonen was locked in a tight battle for seventh place with fellow Finn Benjamin Korhola. Before the final stage, Korhonen was two seconds ahead of his compatriot but then slid off the road.
“We went with a mixed tire setup—rain tires crossed with mediums—which turned out to be completely wrong as the roads stayed dry,” Korhonen said.
“We just spun into a ditch after losing all grip. We managed to get out on our own later. The result slipped away, but we got what we came here for. The long break was obvious early on, but after that, we found our pace and the rally was progressing nicely—at least while it was dry. It was great to be back, and I really hope we get more tarmac events in the calendar to keep developing,” Korhonen continued.
Tuukka Kauppinen, 18, competed in Italy for the first time with a Lancia Rally4 car. Kauppinen started the rally strongly, setting the fastest time in his class on Friday’s opening stage. However, on Saturday’s first stage, the young Finn had to slow down due to a red flag and only drove at liaison speed to the stage finish.
On the third stage, his rally came to an end when the Lancia went off the road.
“On stage three, right near the end, we clipped something on the inside of a corner and damaged the car. In the next turn, we just went straight into a wall,” Kauppinen recounted.
Despite the crash, Kauppinen felt he gained valuable experience from the event.
“Obviously I’m disappointed, but we’re constantly learning and the pace was strong in the shakedown and early in the rally, so at least there are some positives,” Kauppinen summed up.
