Kauppinen slid into a left-hand corner and ended up in the snow. His Toyota got stuck in a snowbank.
Spectators at the scene rushed to help, and the car was eventually pulled back onto the road. He was able to continue, but by then, he had lost nearly three minutes to the leaders. As a result, Kauppinen is no longer in contention for a good result in Savonlinna.
“That stage was quite rough gravel, and the grip was good overall. There hadn’t been any issues, but when I turned into that corner, there was slushy snow. I slid just a bit too wide. It wasn’t far off, but just enough to get stuck. That cost us a lot of time,” Kauppinen told RallyJournal.com.
Before his off, Kauppinen had been in the fight for victory and would have certainly posed a strong challenge to Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Asunmaa.
“I’ve had a really good feeling about this rally. Even though the conditions have been really difficult, things have gone very well. We’ve found a good rhythm, and the car has been working perfectly,” Kauppinen said.
On Saturday, only one more special stage remains in the Savonlinna SM Rally. The Makkola stage, which was supposed to be run for a second time, was cancelled. Kauppinen has a clear plan for the final Matko stage, which is just under 24 kilometres long.
“Now we’ll just go out and enjoy this last one. It has been an amazing rally to drive, even though the conditions have been challenging,” Kauppinen concluded.
