World champion co-driver Jonne Halttunen will enter more rallies as a driver, believing firmly that it will improve his performance alongside Kalle Rovanperä.
Halttunen made his driving debut aboard a Toyota Corolla at last week’s Jyväskylä Talviralli and admitted that not only did he have a huge amount of fun, but the experience made him a more complete co-driver.
World champions Rovanperä and Halttunen were both in action, driving course cars on the third round of the Finnish Rally Championship. Sadly for Rovanperä, his Toyota Starlet suffered a broken suspension arm on Saturday’s first stage proper. While he spent much of the day in the woods close to Vääräkoski, Halttunen was out learning a new skill.
Talking to DirtFish about the experience, he said: “It was one of the coolest days in many, many years. I was laughing the whole day and saying to my mate [co-driver, Tapio Suominen]: ‘This is the best thing ever!’
“I had no issues with the car and we made some quite decent times – even though that was not the point. The car is fantastic and easy to drive. Maybe the only thing I will change is to bring a sequential gearbox – I have the dog ’box and sometimes it’s not so easy when you are going for first gear. With the sequential, it can be even more fun.”
While he hasn’t put a date in the diary yet, Halttunen is keen to be out and driving again soon.
“For sure I will stick in my current position – but for a hobby, I will do some more events and maybe I can take some practise maybe on the handling of the car in the slow speed,” he said. “It was in these kind of places that I was not so good.
“But, for sure, I will do some rallies as a driver in the future. For me it also helped me understand Kalle more and understand why he wants some information from the pacenotes and why he wants them in a certain time.
“Honestly, I think there is a benefit in the day job and this is the reason why I want to do it – it can make me do my job better. Sometimes Tapio was telling me a note and I thought: ‘Maybe it could have been different to say it like this…’ It was making me think more about what I am doing myself in the car.
“I was also really surprised at how hard it was to listen to the notes. When I am sitting in the co-driver seat and calling the notes, I just think that Kalle is understanding everything. But after last weekend, I could say maybe 30% of the time I couldn’t understand at all. I was so focused on the driving, and then maybe there was a note and I couldn’t remember what it was, what he had told me. It really made me think.
“When we are having some tricky events with a lot of mud or some complicated conditions, then I can see now it’s maybe more complicated for the driver to be taking more information in from the co-driver and the notes.
“There was so much listening to do!”
Halttunen was delighted to bring his car home without a mark on it and with entirely respectable times. There was, however, a bridge…
Halttunen’s debut wasn’t without its moments… 😳 #WRC pic.twitter.com/zcbK1Fs6Q7
— DirtFish (@DirtFishRally) March 6, 2023
“Oh yes,” he laughed. “The bridge. That was quite close. My co-driver was screaming at me: ‘Gas, gas, gas!’ as we were sliding towards the bridge.
“I was shouting: ‘Yes, yes, yes, I know what I’m doing.’ We were laughing like hell afterward!
“The whole event was so special, so nice. Of course, we were sad for Kalle and I know a lot of people came only to see him – I’m sorry for them. But the excitement in Killeri on Friday night and then all day on Saturday, it was just amazing. So many people waving and clapping on the road sections. Fantastic.”
