This proved to be a particularly demanding edition of Rally Finland, thanks in part to heavy rain that hit the stages on Friday afternoon and created challenging conditions, especially for competitors in the support categories running further down the road order.

The Program’s second-generation driver Yuki Yamamoto was looking to build upon a strong fifth-place finish in WRC2 on the same event one year ago. After surviving Friday’s conditions, he had climbed up to fourth place in WRC2 by Saturday morning. Unfortunately, he would become one of many category frontrunners to be caught out on the fast stages when he ran wide and damaged a radiator hose, ending his day early. He restarted for the final day and set a sixth-best time in the last stage.

Jaspar Vaher, the Program’s first global driver, handled the challenges well to secure an impressive fourth place finish in the highly competitive WRC2 category – just 1.4 seconds from the podium. After showing strong pace already on Friday morning, he would lose time in the afternoon’s rain but gradually climbed the leaderboard from 11th thereafter with strong and consistent pace.

Like Vaher, fellow GR Yaris Rally2 rookies Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto from the Program’s third generation were making just their second starts in WRC2. While the conditions caught out many drivers during the weekend, they too drove clean rallies and improved their pace during the event, finishing ninth and 13th in WRC2 respectively.

In the WRC3 class for Rally3 machinery, Japanese co-driver Tomiya Maekawa finished fourth navigating for experienced Finnish driver Jarkko Nikara. The pair lost over two minutes changing a tyre on Friday morning but went on to score several stage wins.

Their team-mates were also unlucky, with Kanta Yanaguida crashing out of the rally following a slow puncture in Friday’s second stage, and Rio Ogata running second until he damaged a damper in rocky ruts on Friday afternoon. Ogata could return to the stages to gain valuable experience across Saturday and Sunday.

Mikko Hirvonen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program chief instructor):
“This was quite a surprising Rally Finland in terms of the conditions and really challenging for the crews. Yuki fought through that well on Friday while avoiding issues, but then on Saturday unfortunately made a small mistake. He had promising speed so it was a pity he was not able to get the result at the end. Jaspar had a fantastic rally. We’ve seen his potential earlier in the year and knew that even if he pushes a little bit less, he can still achieve a great result and here he pulled that off. Takumi played it safe when needed but was able to build his speed through the weekend and move into the top 10, while Shotaro was able to match him in some stages and also gather those valuable kilometres with this car, which will help both to be stronger in coming events. Our Rally3 crews were a bit unlucky this weekend, especially Kanta that his rally ended so early. Rio too could have had a stronger result, but after his early exit in Estonia he showed that he’s learning how to manage a longer rally like this. Jarkko and Tomiya also could have had a very good result, and at least they experienced the full event with very good pace.”

Yuki Yamamoto
“The start to this rally was really tricky with the conditions we faced on Friday. I don’t think I’ve experienced such conditions in Finland much before. We dropped some time in the morning, but made some fairly big changes with the car setup for the afternoon and managed to survive in the tricky conditions. We made a good start to Saturday but early in the third stage I lost the rear and damaged the car. At least we could get back out for the final day but overall it’s a big disappointment because we had been in a good position and finding a better feeling all the time.”

Shotaro Goto
“I really enjoyed this rally. On Friday I struggled quite a bit in the rain; we caught really heavy rain for three stages and I found it pretty hard to see anything, so I lost quite a lot of time then, but when the stages were dry I felt I was able to drive with a good rhythm. From Saturday with full dry conditions I felt able to push a bit more while avoiding any major mistakes and I was fairly happy with my pace, so I’m satisfied with my rally overall.”

Takumi Matsushita
“This rally was a great experience for me. Friday was already quite a big adventure with the really heavy rain which we faced in several stages, which was very difficult. The roads also became very rutted and bumpy in the afternoon, so I experienced many different challenges in one day. From Saturday when conditions were more consistent I was able to drive steadily and without mistakes and we made changes with the car setup which went in the right direction, so I’m pleased with the weekend overall.”

Jaspar Vaher
“I have to be really happy with our rally. The main priority was to finish the rally and to fight for the podium wasn’t really in our plan, especially after Friday when we lost quite a lot of time in the heavy rain because we were starting further back on the road compared to most of our rivals. Otherwise though I think it was a good drive and a good recovery and we did everything we could. Overall it was a really nice event for us and I’m looking forward to try to continue like this.”

Rio Ogata
“Overall I am happy with my driving in this rally. After my rally in Estonia ended early, I knew that I needed to take a different approach to this event in order to gain experience and I think I was able to do that. The stages became very rutted and we had to stop with some damage on Friday, but after that I think I was able to manage it quite well and survive the conditions. I’m also happy with my time in the final stage, so it was good to end with this positive.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“Unfortunately our rally ended very early. In SS3 I hit a rock with the front-right quite early in the stage, and about five kilometres later I lost control of the steering because of a puncture and we went off the road. It came as quite a surprise because I didn’t feel any problem until then, and I couldn’t really do anything about it. Until then I had a good feeling so it’s very disappointing, but it’s part of rallying and I will try to learn from it and keep improving.”

Tomiya Maekawa
“This was a really good weekend for us. It was the first time that we were able to complete a full WRC event. Unfortunately we had a puncture on Friday and lost a lot of time which dropped us to a lower position, but we could still set some good stage times during the event. I gained really good experience on the high-speed Finnish stages, where the corners are coming up very quickly and you need to find really precise timing with the pacenotes.”