2019 Rally Finland

2019 Rally Rally Finland 69. Neste Rally Finland
Round 9 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Rally Finland has the fastest average speed of any event on the calendar.
Host country	Finland
Rally base	Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi
Dates run	1 – 4 August 2019
Start location	Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi
Finish location	Ruuhimäki, Toivakka
Stages	23 (307.58 km; 191.12 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Gravel
Transport distance	1,066.09 km (662.44 miles)
Overall distance	1,373.67 km (853.56 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered	65
Crews	61 at start, 49 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 2:30:40.3
Power Stage winner	Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Support category results
WRC-2 winner	Nikolay Gryazin Yaroslav Fedorov Nikolay Gryazin 2:41:09.0
J-WRC winner	Tom Kristensson Henrik Appelskog Tom Kristensson 2:55:17.2

The 2019 Rally Finland (also known as Neste Rally Finland 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars held over four days between 1 and 4 August 2019.^[2] It marked the sixty-ninth running of Rally Finland and was the ninth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. It was also the fourth round of the Junior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based in Jyväskylä in Keski-Suomi, and was contested over twenty-three special stages with a total a competitive distance of 307.58 km (191.12 mi).

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending rally winners. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.^[3] The local crew of Eerik Pietarinen and Juhana Raitanen were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly created WRC-2 Pro class by Škoda Motorsport.^[4] The Estonian crew of Ken Torn and Kuldar Sikk were the reigning winners of the Junior World Rally Championship, but they did not compete the rally.^[5]

Tänak and Järveoja successfully defended their titles, adding their winning number to double figures. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, won the rally three years in a row.^[6] Local youngster Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen took their fourth consecutive victory in the WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the Russian crew of Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov won the wider WRC-2 class as well as snatching their first WRC point.^[7] Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog took their second victory of the season in the junior category to regain the championship lead.^[8]

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by three-points ahead of defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further three points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a forty-four-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.^[9]

In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen held a thirteen-point lead ahead of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were third, another thirteen points further back. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport and M-Sport Ford WRT tied with same points, with Citroën Total sixty-one points behind in third.^[10]

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by eighteen points respectively. Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais were second, following by Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson in third.^[10]

In the Junior-World Rally Championship standings, Jan Solans and Mauro Barreiro led Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog by nine points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Dennis Rådström and Johan Johansson six points further behind in third in their own standings. In the Nations' standings, Sweden were first, six points cleared of Spain, with Germany eighteen points further behind in third.^[11]

The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro, Junior World Rally Championship and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-five entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and thirteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Three crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further fourteen entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship.

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
World Rally Car entries
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
18	Jouni Virtanen	Risto Pietiläinen	JanPro	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
33	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
42	Craig Breen	Paul Nagle	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
89	Andreas Mikkelsen	Anders Jæger-Amland	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries
21	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
23	Eerik Pietarinen	Juhana Raitanen	Škoda Motorsport[a]	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
24	Eric Camilli	Benjamin Veillas	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5	M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
41	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	Pierre-Louis Loubet[b]	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
43	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	Takamoto Katsuta[c]	Ford Fiesta R5	P
44	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Nikolay Gryazin[d]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
45	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	Henning Solberg[e]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
46	Paulo Nobre	Gabriel Morales	Paulo Nobre[f]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
47	Emil Lindholm	Mikael Korhonen	Emil Lindholm[g]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	M
48	Johan Kristoffersson	Stig Rune Skjærmoen	Johan Kristoffersson[h]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
49	Jari Huttunen	Antti Linnaketo	Jari Huttunen[i]	Hyundai i20 R5	P
50	Tomi Tukiainen	Mikko Pohjanharju	Tomi Tukiainen	Škoda Fabia R5	M
51	Grégoire Munster	Louis Louka	Grégoire Munster	Škoda Fabia R5	P
Junior World Rally Championship entries
71	Jan Solans	Mauro Barreiro	Rally Team Spain	Ford Fiesta R2	P
72	Tom Kristensson	Henrik Appelskog	Tom Kristensson	Ford Fiesta R2	P
73	Dennis Rådström	Johan Johansson	Dennis Rådström	Ford Fiesta R2	P
74	Julius Tannert	Jürgen Heigl	ADAC Sachsen	Ford Fiesta R2	P
75	Roland Poom	Ken Järveoja	Roland Poom	Ford Fiesta R2	P
76	Tom Williams	Phil Hall	Tom Williams	Ford Fiesta R2	P
77	Mārtiņš Sesks	Krišjānis Caune	LMT Autosporta Akadēmija	Ford Fiesta R2	P
78	Raul Badiu	Gabriel Lazăr	Raul Badiu	Ford Fiesta R2	P
79	Enrico Oldrati	Elia De Guio	Enrico Oldrati	Ford Fiesta R2	P
80	Sean Johnston	Alex Kihurani	Sean Johnston	Ford Fiesta R2	P
81	Fabrizio Zaldivar	Fernando Mussano	Fabrizio Zaldivar	Ford Fiesta R2	P
82	Nico Knacker	Michael Wenzel	ADAC Weser-Ems	Ford Fiesta R2	P
83	Sami Pajari	Antti Haapala	Team Flying Finn	Ford Fiesta R2	P
84	Aleksi Röyhkiö	Ville Mannisenmäki	Aleksi Röyhkiö	Ford Fiesta R2	P
Other Major Entries
105	Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	Adrien Fourmaux	Ford Fiesta R2	M
Source:[12]

There were no significant changes to the route for the 2019 event outside some slight length reductions to selected stages.^[1]

All dates and times are EEST (UTC+3).

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin were entered by M-Sport Ford WRT, but were later withdrawn when Evans was injured contesting Rally Estonia as part of their pre-event preparations. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were withdrawn from the WRC 2-Pro category and re-entered in Evans' and Martin's place.^[13] Hayden Paddon and John Kennard were entered into the rally by M-Sport Ford WRT, but they were withdrawn after a heavy crash during testing that caused irreparable damage their car.^[14]

It was a drama-free Friday for front runners, with Jari-Matti Latvala took a narrow lead into the second leg.^[15] However, the local Finn punctured his rear-left tyre in a right-hand corner, which dropped him down to third. Teammate Kris Meeke also ran into trouble at the same corner, but damage to the rear-left suspension forced the Northern Irishman retired from the day.^[16] Despite re-entering the rally on the final day, he still had to retire as he stopped again when he hit a rock. Gus Greensmith's rally ended his rally on SS20 after crashing into a tree.^[17]

The rally was easily won by Ott Tänak, who won his tenth rally in his WRC career as well as winning his 200th stage victory during the event.^[6]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Ott Tänak	180			Martin Järveoja	180			Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	262
2			Sébastien Ogier	158			Julien Ingrassia	158			Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	238
3			Thierry Neuville	155			Nicolas Gilsoul	155			Citroën Total WRT	198
4			Elfyn Evans	78			Scott Martin	78			M-Sport Ford WRT	158
5		2	Andreas Mikkelsen	71		1	Anders Jæger-Amland	71

Defending WRC-2 winner Eerik Pietarinen crashed out at the very first of the day and was unable to continue.^[18] Kalle Rovanperä was comfortable in the lead and collected his fourth straight WRC-2 Pro victory.^[19][7]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Kalle Rovanperä	136			Jonne Halttunen	136			Škoda Motorsport	184
2			Mads Østberg	98			Torstein Eriksen	98			M-Sport Ford WRT	177
3			Gus Greensmith	85			Elliott Edmondson	85			Citroën Total	98
4			Łukasz Pieniążek	74			Kamil Heller	62
5			Jan Kopecký	36			Pavel Dresler	36

Local driver Emil Lindholm led the category before he crashed out in the second stage.^[18] Pierre-Louis Loubet led the class until the last stage of leg two, when he misheard a pace note and smashed into a tree.^[19] Eventually, Nikolay Gryazin snatched his first victory of the class after a consistent weekend.^[7]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points
1			Benito Guerra	69			Jaime Zapata	69
2			Pierre-Louis Loubet	63			Vincent Landais	63
3		2	Nikolay Gryazin	63		2	Yaroslav Fedorov	63
4		1	Ole Christian Veiby	50		1	Jonas Andersson	50
5		1	Takamoto Katsuta	47		1	Daniel Barritt	47

Raul Badiu heavily crashed his Ford Fiesta R2, suffering two fractured ribs and a concussion. The Romanian was forced to retire from the rally and received medical treatment.^[20] Roland Poom and Jürgen Heigl was the two major retirements in the second leg.^[21] Dennis Rådström could have taken some good points from the event, but the crash in the penultimate stage means he was thirty-four points off the lead. Compatriot Tom Kristensson took the victory with eight stage victories to retake the championship lead.^[8]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Nations' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Country	Points
1		1	Tom Kristensson	95		1	Henrik Appelskog	95			Sweden	86
2		1	Jan Solans	94		1	Mauro Barreiro	94			Spain	73
3			Dennis Rådström	61			Johan Johansson	61		1	Germany	43
4		1	Roland Poom	41		1	Ken Järveoja	41		1	Estonia	43
5		1	Julius Tannert	36		1	Jürgen Heigl	36		3	Italy	26

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2019 Rally Finland.

• Official website (in Finnish and English)
• 2019 Rally Finland in e-wrc website
• The official website of the World Rally Championship