The disappointment in the Top Building Rally in August was so overwhelming that I needed to drive again somewhere and soon. We decided to drive in Kouvola because of the fast and hard surfaced roads in the Kymenlaakso area which we liked. I had driven in Kouvola 2007 so it really was time to go there again. Three stages, each of them twice plus Tykkimäki as power stage. Our starting number was 92 and by the time we were starting the race it was raining heavily making the roads slippery. Right away on stage one a slippery left almost caught me and gave me palpitation. It was a bit stressful to drive on stages one and two because the slippery places changed a lot but luckily the rain stopped before stage three and the driving started to feel fun. My co-driver Juho Hänninen did a good job in reading notes to me and his comments every now and then motivated me to do my best. The car was working perfectly and racing was nice. I did not let the thought of possibly breaking wheel bolts ruin my driving. And the bolts did not break! We took the car intact into the finish and we won our category (no one else in our category) but the most important thing for us was the fifth position overall (had we competed overall). And we would have won the Finnish Championship Category 2 with a 30-year-old car!

The Corona pandemic struck the world on March, 15 and took the rallies out of the calendar. Luckily the situation got better during the summer and finally at the end of the summer some rallies were driven. Lahti Historic Rally was to be driven at first but it was cancelled because of the corona situation. The rally was changed from the European championship rally into a national rally which was driven in Lammi during one day only. There were three stages driven twice each (six altogether) and the reccé was done in the morning of the racing day. I had driven the last time in February so I was a bit excited. My driving was not so good but I was not alone with that problem. The break in driving had done its task. We drove the fastest time on stages one and two. At the beginning of stage three our brakes started to get soft and I thought we had a problem with the wheel bearing but all of a sudden the whole tire came off. Luckily the runaway did not hit anybody and I managed to keep the car on the road. Not much damage but we had to retire. The wheel bolts of the rear tires were changed but the front bolts were old. There was some stretching in the bolts of the front left wheel and they broke down. We had not checked how worn out the bolts were before starting stage three. We have to be more careful in the future and check the parts of our rally car properly.