Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia) Rally was supposed to be the last rally of the season for me, but because I could not drive there at all we made a quick decision to take part in the Askola race. The organizers promised a good starting number for us so that put the finishing touches to our decision. We eagerly wanted to drive! The engine of my own car was damaged in the Pohjanmaa rally (the turbo broke down) so we had to make a last minute change of cars and we took my Dad’s Toyota Celica St165. The car became ready for only two weeks before the Askola rally so there was no testing of it. During the last night before the race some electrical work was done and it was only 300 meters before the starting line that the final touch in the set up of the brakes was done. Finally it was ¨ready to race¨. There were four stages in the rally, two of which went by in getting to know the car. I increased my speed on stage three and onwards. Before the last stage the situation was interesting: I was second only 0,8 seconds behind the leader, Kalle Markkanen, who drove Skoda R5. The final stage was a very fast road with 1,5 km tarmac which suited me and my car. I decided to attack, drive for the victory and I succeeded. The three last crossroads went so well that even my co-driver, Juho Hänninen, was surprised and wondered how smooth lines I had. We won and beat Kalle Markkanen by 6,2 seconds. It was a fine and well organized race. How great it was to drive an old car in competition with those modern rally cars!

After the Finnish Championship rally in Kouvola, which went well, my Toyota Celica was supposed to have just a minor service and check-up before the home race Rally Pohjanmaa. While servicing we saw that there were more broken parts than expected which gave us more work than we had thought, for example we had to change the turbo. The time was running out but we managed to get the car ready one day before the rally. Now it was time to set the lights because there would be stages driven in the dark. Unfortunately one of the teeth of the front CWP came off and went through the top of the transfer box causing leakage of oil. All of it leaked out. We had only one day to change the transfer box but the mechanics did a brilliant job and managed to fix the car on time. The race started approximately one hour late on our behalf due to occasional delays but finally we were able to start our first stage. But the turbo did not last. I managed to drag the car about 800 meters to the first crossroads but that was it, the race was over. The turbo had been changed, only about 50 kilometers driven, but the car with all its technical details never tells you beforehand when it is going to break down.