Leading World Rally Championship drivers feel Friday’s stages at Rally Finland are simply too fast.
The Laukaa, Saarikas, Myhinpää and Ruuhimäki loop is not new for Rally Finland, but road repairs have made the stages wider and therefore even faster.
World champion Thierry Neuville said at the end of SS3, Saarikas, that the stage was “not proper driving” as it was just flat out and taking risks.
His rivals agreed.
Rally leader Kalle Rovanperä told DirtFish: “It seems every year we cut a bit and then the road gets repaired wider and wider, and now it seems we go fifth gear flat out everywhere so it’s really hard to make any differences [in time].”
Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier added: “Yeah, I agree with that – that the profile generally is getting too wide and I think some section is too easy flat for a long time and that’s not the most enjoyable, I have to say.
Ogier advocated a return to narrower, more challenging stages
“So, yeah, probably I’m sure there is many possibilities here in Finland with roads and maybe [we should] try to go back on more narrow sections [which] will help for the show, I mean.”
Elfyn Evans was less offended than others, but agreed the stages were “definitely on the fast side”.
He said: “I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with it. It’s just a bit boring fast, let’s say. I think the conditions obviously don’t help. We have this compact dry condition, quite a lot of grip, so that obviously increases the speed.”
Rovanperä’s average speed after five stages is 124.2km/h, 2.2km/h quicker than he was at the same stage last year.
Such comparisons are difficult to read into however, given the change in tire supplier and lack of hybrid power in 2025, as well as the drier conditions.
