Teemu Suninen’s not somebody to bear a grudge. At least not for too long.
When he heard of Ott Tänak’s decision to walk away from the World Rally Championship at the end of last season, his immediate reaction was to get on the phone and remind Hyundai that he was still here. He thought he was in with a shot.
But before he could dust down those blue and orange overalls, the window closed. Hayden Paddon, Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo were the chosen ones.
“It was really disappointing,” Suninen, who last drove a works i20 N Rally1 in 2023, told DirtFish.
“I really felt that I would have deserved it. I felt that I would be the right man for the place. But I understand that’s marketing and there were some doubts of my current pace because I didn’t drive in the last year.”
Suninen last drove for Hyundai's Rally1 team in 2023
And stacked up against Suninen’s lack of 2025 competition were three drivers who’d all won domestic titles.
“One-and-a-half years is a long time without driving,” he added, before pointing out that he’s done all he could to keep himself trim and race-ready.
“I have been working around motorsport,” he said. “I’ve been coaching the young drivers to stay in rallying and to keep the body and the eyes in the speed. I wish this was proof…”
The voice trails away, but the point is plain – he wanted the world to understand he’d done all he could across those 18 months. And still he was overlooked. So, he went the extra mile and pulled together a deal to drive a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at Rally Sweden earlier this month.
How many times have we seen drivers pull together all the eggs they can find, plonk them in a single basket and then look on in horror as the whole thing tumbles to the floor? That wasn’t the case for Suninen and his co-driver Janni Hussi in Umeå. Quite the opposite.
Despite never having driven Hankook’s Sweden-spec tire, never having competed in a Toyota or alongside Hussi, the 32-year-old made it look like he’d never been away.
Suninen was a superb second in the Swedish snow
“Since the first stage and through the whole weekend it was really fun,” Suninen reflected. “I would say it was an amazing comeback after one-and-a-half year – and only doing the Monday test to set up the car, learn the tire and the team. We met them for the first time on that test. I would say this is a great story.”
The conclusion of that great story was a very solid second place in WRC2, with only countryman and recognized rising star Roope Korhonen ahead of him.
Having raised eyebrows with his immediate speed on his return, Suninen is set on spending the remainder of the season reminding his former employer that it made a mistake not bringing him back to a factory i20 N Rally1.
“The plan for the rest of the year is to get some more rallies. For now, it was only one-time goal. Hopefully that proves I still have pace and with [my] experience. I believe that I could get more wins and even fight for the title if we could do the full championship.”
That’s stage one of the comeback, stage two? A 2027 seat, potentially helping an inbound constructor in their development.
“We need to see what the few next months brings,” he said. “I would say I would be the driver with the experience and with the motivation and still would have some years of the career [remaining]. I have really good experience from different cars and [I’ve] been driving many different manufacturers and all of them have positive things.
“I believe I could be a good driver for the teams. All I can do is to perform well and get the seat for ’27.”
