There’s a moment in the career of every promising young talent where the watching world stands up, takes notice and realizes somebody special has just arrived.
Sébastien Loeb’s second place on his first factory outing in a World Rally Car in 2001 springs to mind; similarly Sébastien Ogier’s demolition of the Junior WRC field on his first world championship start in 2008. Then there’s Kalle Rovanperä’s career in general.
Finland’s latest world champion still has plenty more to give given he’s still only the tender age of 24, but already his title of ‘Finland’s next big talent’ appears to have been handed over.
Enter stage sideways: Tuukka Kauppinen.
Even without context, the 18-year-old’s drive on last weekend’s Arctic Rally was bonkers. Quickest Rally2 car by over half a minute (and that Rally2 car was two-time WRC winner Esapekka Lappi) and even faster than Rovanperä in his Rally1 car, Arctic Rally 2025 will be remembered as Kauppinen’s moment.
Kauppinen scored a famous victory despite feeling unwell for most of the rally
And the feat only becomes more impressive when you learn Kauppinen was suffering from a fever throughout the event.
“This sore feeling is a bit of a hindrance,” he commented early on the event.
But you wouldn’t have known it from the stage times. Quickest on three of Friday’s stages, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 pilot narrowly led Lappi after day one.
“Now we have found a good rhythm and have come clean,” Kauppinen said. “No overexertion, but this fatigue bothered us on the last two stages.
“Tomorrow will certainly be a harder day for the tires, and I expect a more challenging day anyway, but I hope I can sleep well and have the strength for tomorrow.”
Fastest time of the Rally2, Finnish championship runners first thing on Saturday proved he absolutely did have the strength. But with the margins so tight, any mistake was going to settle it – and it was the vastly more experienced Lappi who blinked, not the teenager.
Kauppinen was typically Finnish and understated in his post-rally assessment.
“The race went well, even though Friday was going to be difficult due to the flu,” he surmised.
“We found a good rhythm as the rally progressed and avoided mistakes. We do things our own way, and now it seems to be bearing fruit with these cars too. The goals are at the top, and this is a good step.”
The top cannot be far away if Kauppinen is already capable of drives like this. The next step is next week’s Rally Sweden in WRC2, where suddenly the Finn will have a lot more eyes monitoring his performance.