I was really excited to have the opportunity to compete in Rovaniemi with my Toyota Celica ST185 (year 1992, category A). The car was the same one I drove at this rally in 2022. Today thisToyota Celica could be called version 2.0 because the car has been updated in many ways. Now it corresponds to a car Carlos Sainz won the Title in 1992. The car has almost 400 hp but it does not have the same aerodynamics and suspension travels as the rally cars of today but it is fun to drive.
We were able to cross the finish line in the race but there were some issues along the way. Aittajärvi 2 was the first stage on Saturday morning. Unfortunately our 4th gear in the gearbox broke down. I was forced to drive in 3rd gear and then change directly to 5th gear but we managed to get to the service.
In the service the cluster had to be changed which led to a complication and thus more working minutes were needed. Finally the parts had been changed but our service time had gone 14 minutes over the limit and we were punished by a seven-minute-overtime penalty. We were in ninth position overall but due to our time penalty we dropped to position 20. Mikko Heikkilä won the rally with a brand new Toyota Gr Yaris Rally 2 car.
