TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program FRC Kouvola

2025.07.14 (Monday)

Tomiya Maekawa, Jarkko Nikara
Tomiya Maekawa, Jarkko Nikara

Information

Date 11-12 July 2025
Event SM O.K. Auto-Ralli – Finnish Rally Championship, Round 5
Surface Gravel

Results (SM3 class)

  1. 1 Jarkko Nikara/Tomiya Maekawa (Renault Clio Rally4)

    46m03.2s

  2. 2 Aatu Hakalehto/Joonas Ojala (Ford Fiesta Rally4)

    +23.1s

  3. 3 Joni Korhonen/Miro Iljina (Peugeot 208 Rally4)

    +39.5s

  4. 4 Niko Kalmi/Jukka Jämsen (Ford Fiesta Rally4)

    +1m16.1s

  5. 5 Rio Ogata/Mikael Korhonen (Renault Clio Rally3)

    +1m40.2s

  6. 6 Tuomas Huikuri/Joona Rönkkö (Ford Fiesta Rally4)

    +2m15.1s

  7. 7 Kanta Yanaguida/Ville Mannisenmäki (Renault Clio Rally3)

    +2m41.6s

Quotes

Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):
“This was the third rally for Rio and Kanta with us and, after the accidents on the previous event, we were expecting that it might be tricky to find the confidence again straightaway. We asked them to take their time and build up gradually, and both had a clean rally and reached the finish, which was important. Rio did pretty well finding a rhythm and increased his speed towards the end. He’s still finding his way with the pacenotes, but this was a good comeback and a good result for him. Kanta unfortunately had a technical issue on the second day and was struggling a bit to find that rhythm, but this is understandable as he looks to build the confidence in the pacenotes again. Tomiya continues to perform well together with Jarkko, and the next challenge for him will be his first WRC event at Rally Finland. This will take a bit more planning and pacenote work for Tomiya but we’re excited to see how they do there.”

Rio Ogata
“First of all, I’m happy that I could finish this rally. The result is not as good as it was in Turku, for example, but that is not the main goal for me at the moment. At least in the last two stages I feel that I could drive with some better rhythm than in earlier stages. I can feel that my pacenotes and my driving are improving compared to before and I think I can be happy about that.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“This rally was quite demanding with many different kinds of stages: some were very twisty and some were really fast and flowing. I started a bit too carefully with my driving on the first day, and we had a technical issue that limited the power during the morning on the second day, but in the afternoon loop I had a good feeling, especially in the last stage. Still the stage times were not so great, so I will work harder to keep improving my driving and my pacenotes.”

Tomiya Maekawa
“I’m very happy with this result; our third victory in the Finnish championship. Like usual it was not an easy rally and we had to push until the very last stage. The stages were generally fast and very challenging on the co-driver’s side; I had to focus on finding the precise timing for the pacenotes during the high-speed sections. Still I found more new things to improve during this rally. The next rally is my first ever World Rally Championship event, Rally Finland, and I will prepare a lot to be ready for that.”

Rio Ogata
Rio Ogata
Kanta Yanaguida
Kanta Yanaguida
Nikara/Maekawa
Nikara/Maekawa
Tomiya Maekawa
Tomiya Maekawa