Greetings from the Arctic Lappland Rally in Rovaniemi, Finland at the Arctic Circle. This is the 56th Arctic Rally and this year it is driven without spectators because of the Covid-19 situation.
Among those starting our wild journey are the Finnish F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, who starts to be a familiar face already among the drivers of the Arctic, the Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby, who made his debut in WRC class at the end of last season, and Riku Tahko, who switched from another manufacturer to become a brand ambassador for Hyundai. Both Veiby and Tahko helm a Hyundai i20 R5The main class of the event, however, the SM1 for R5 and other modern 4WD cars gathered also a remarkable 29 competitors. Among them naturally the reigning Finnish champion and our last year’s SM1 winner Teemu Asunmaa, the 10-time Finnish Champion and 6-time Arctic Lapland Rally winner Juha Salo as well as a new rising star who made some name for himself last season, Mikko Heikkilä. It is however Emil Lindholm who will certainly push to the maximum to correct his slip of the last year’s victory on the final stage of the rally. An interesting debutant to the class is Kalle Markkanen, who switched to an R5 last year after the end of Finnish Championship season.
We are here with full access to the service area and tracks, serving the people we meet. Team RFC is taking its step into the world of Rally sports in Finland! Next month we are here for the WRC – FIA World Rally Championship and this is the official home town of Santa Claus! Greetings from a -35 degree cold Lappland (northern Finland).
Pontus J. Back, Chaplain
& Johan Sebastian Back, Field Staff
Team RFC Region 8, International
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