Three stages are all looped twice on the second day of Arctic Rally Finland, and will provide the answer on whether this really could be the fastest World Rally Championship event of all time over the next 89.5 miles of competitive action on snow, ice and an increasing amount of surface gravel.
SS3/6 Mustalampi (15.18 miles)
This stage took two attempts to get the DirtFish hire car through – first time neither the access road or the stage had been ploughed and there was not a hope of making it to the start.
The next day, the road was passable, but still quite lively. It starts with some medium fast corners before moving into a more technical series of corners. It’s not as fast as the middle section of the Friday’s opener, but the big difference here is that there’s nothing like the topography. What Mustalampi does have, however, beyond the most fabulously Finnish sounding stage name, is a really narrow section in the trees (so narrow the plough has taken chunks out of the trees) and a frozen swamp.
There’s no road across the swamp, but when the big freeze arrives, it gives the organisers the chance to make what’s known locally as a winter road. The surface in here had a more solid ice base than Friday’s stage, so there’s potential for less gravel coming through.
The stage finishes in the Snow Rally Rings school complex. Running into the school property, the road should stand up best, with the owners more likely to have kept the surface watered (and iced) through the season.
SS4/7 Kaihuavaara (12.37 miles)
If this rally has any chance of being the fastest WRC round ever, it all hangs on this one – the event’s shortest test (and an Arctic Lapland Rally staple). This is the super-fast stage of the weekend.
Running in a counter-clockwise loop from Luusua, it starts narrow and technical before turning onto a very fast road – but still nothing like the double-width we saw on Friday.
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This takes the crews towards and then along the shore of a lake (not that you’d know it, it’s all white and the only thing that gives it away is the lack of trees) before a right-hander sends the cars south and into the really quick middle section of the stage.
A square-right brings a massive rhythm change onto a hugely challenging narrow stretch. It’s horribly bumpy through here with no margin for error with trees lining the side of the road. Those slow bits will bring the average speed down, but it’s still worth a look – it’s likely to be the fastest of the event, according to Sébastien Ogier.
SS5/8 Siikakämä (17.20 miles)
The last in the loop, depending on how much gravel comes through, this one could be the most challenging in terms of tire strategy. Run through the trees, some of the locals were disappointed to see the loss of an uber-fast stretch of road used when this stage formed part of the 2020 Arctic Lapland Rally.
There’s almost an element of the mid-Wales to start of this one, with deceptive long corners interspersed with tighter more technical bends. A mid-stage junction brings another rhythm change with the second half of the test being quicker to the finish.
