Teemu Suninen has scored a win and four second places across two World Rally Championship rounds and three European Rally Championship events in the last seven weeks, thrusting him into the box seat for a maiden ERC title.
Second place on last week’s Barum Czech Rally Zlín puts Suninen 25 points ahead of nearest rival Andrea Mabellini. He is also second in the WRC2 standings, though is not currently set to participate in any further rounds and is thus unlikely to challenge current leader Robert Virves for the title.
A series of strong drives across different surfaces – one win and two podiums were on asphalt rounds – means he feels he has “proven his point,” as he described in his recent Club DirtFish column. Now Suninen is hoping that key decision makers with a long-term future in rallying have taken notice.
“I hope there is a team that looks a bit further than just next year,” said Suninen.
“I also hope there is a team that realizes I can jump in any car, on any surface, and that I have a really good understanding of all the Rally2 cars – the positives and the negatives of every brand’s car. So I believe I will be one of the fastest and most experienced guys to help make a car for the new regulations cycle. That’s my belief.
“I wish that someone will see this and needs me for this, as I don’t think there’s another driver that has all this experience from racing all these cars recently. Plus we have pace on our side.”
It’s a huge turnaround from a year ago, when Suninen went an entire season without a single rally start to his name – instead focusing on driver coaching. His previous campaign in 2024 with a semi-works Hyundai i20 N Rally2 mustered only two non-points-finishes and three retirements.
“Honestly, I was questioning [my future],” said Suninen. “If rally is like this, I won’t continue. If I can’t enjoy it or do it well, I’m happy to do something else. But I really appreciate the chance I got this year and getting to go to a good level, to do the sport at the level I want to do it.
“For sure [the 2025 hiatus] helped because it gave me a bit more time to see the full picture of rallying and how events go. As a driver you can just see your part and that’s it. If you watch from TV you can see much more happening for every driver, and all the moments others are having.
“It was good to understand the full picture of rallying more, not taking things too emotionally whatever happens; you just need to do the best possible job for yourself and see how it ends up.”
Suninen can win the ERC at the next event in Wales if results fall his way
Even if Suninen ERC title bid converts into a first major international championship success and he still fails to find a major manufacturer to drive for, he still feels another year at the same level would help demonstrate his talent.
“It’s hard to say what’s coming,” said Suninen of the 2027 WRC field. “But even if I should drive next year in a Rally2 car I wouldn’t see any problem. The cars are quite close anyway. Then we can still show good performance in a Rally2 car.
“But for me, the thing would be to get to some team to build a car for the future, as I’m the only one with experience of all the cars.”
To read about Suninen’s intense schedule in the last seven weeks – including insights into what made him rude, how sleep deprivation began to affect him and why he felt Barum’s Semetín stage is Ouninpohja times three – sign up to Club DirtFish today.
