Kauppinen’s race calendar is fully booked for the entire year, and he’ll be back in serious competition at the end of May with a tarmac rally in Italy.
Earlier this year, Kauppinen took a sensational victory at the traditional Arctic Rally in Rovaniemi. Since then, he has competed at the Swedish WRC round, the Savonlinna Rally, and multiple tarmac events in Italy before the Länsirannikko rally.
“The season stays busy. Next week I’ll be in Italy on tarmac, and after that there’s a European Championship round in Poland. Then it’ll already be time for the next rally in Finland. There’s something going on every week – definitely a packed schedule,” Kauppinen told RallyJournal.com with a smile.
Adding to his hectic year, Kauppinen will also begin his mandatory military service in Finland later this year.
“In October, I’ll be starting military service in Helsinki. That’s where the sports school is now – they no longer have it in Lahti,” Kauppinen explained.
“It’s good that I’ll get it done right at the beginning, because it could be even busier in the future,” he added.
Kauppinen believes that in today’s geopolitical climate, completing military service is especially important. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and tensions between global powers have escalated since. In response to Russian aggression, Finland also joined the NATO defence alliance.
Do you feel that military service is especially important right now?
“Yes, I do. I absolutely want to complete it,” Kauppinen said firmly.
