Rally Finland entries revealed

The upcoming Neste Rally Finland has published its entry list and it shows 81 crews, 16 of which will be driving WR Cars.

The eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, which runs from 31 July to 3 August, is always a popular fixture because of the challenge that the fast gravel stages close to Jyvaskyla bring.

As well as the expected works entries from Citroen, Hyundai, M-Sport and Volkswagen, there are also entries for some talented privateer WR Car drivers.

Henning Solberg faced a 24-hour dash to secure enough sponsorship at the end of last week’s Rally Poland but his hard work has paid off as he lines up in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Also driving Fiestas will be Ireland’s Craig Breen and Poland’s Michal Solowaw who retired from his home event with mechanical problems.

Completing the Ford Fiesta-driving line up will be Finnish ace Jarkko Nikara. The 28-year-old has been away from WR Car action since he completed a part programme of events in a MINI WRC – his best result being fifth overall at Rally Catalunya in 2012.

Rally Finland is also a qualifying round of the WRC 2, WRC 3, FIA Junior World Rally Championship and Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy.

The battle in the WRC 2 field is expected to be particularly fierce with many of the series front-runners turning out in Finland.

Championship leader Lorenzo Bertelli returns to the driving seat after missing Rally Poland, as is second-place man, Yuriy Protasov.

Ott Tanak and Jari Ketomaa, the men that filed the top two places in Poland, will both line up among the WRC 2 favourites having honed their early driving skills on the fast gravel stages in Estonia and Finland respectively.