Super 2000 lines up for super Finnish fight

The championship leader Xevi Pons is not in Jyvaskyla for this week’s sixth round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, but it doesn’t really matter.

If ever there was a stand alone battle to be won, it’s this week’s Rally Finland. Every driver has a point to prove in their effort to bag the big 25, which could help them win the war come the end of the year.

Jari Ketomaa is the Finnish driver of the moment. After missing the first two rounds of the series, he has won the last two in his Ford Fiesta S2000 and success in New Zealand and Portugal has left him on the verge of a hat-trick at home.

Attempting to knock Ketomaa out of his stride are a host of his countryman including the similarly mounted Janne Tuohino, whose season has yet to really get going. Tuohino is, however, a huge talent and a driver well capable of winning this weekend.

Outside of the Finnish Fords, there’s a Finnish Skoda to be concerned about - that of Juho Hanninen. Hanninen, a wildcard entry for this event, won Group N on Rally Finland comfortably last season and is leading Skoda’s charge in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge standings. The likeable former Production Car WRC regular is certain to be in the mix for honours - as will his wildcard (another Skoda driver) Matti Rantanen.

Rantanen’s record on his home round of the WRC has been exceptional: he was seventh overall in 2008 and fifth last time out when he was driving a Ford Focus RS WRC. This time around there’s no World Rally Car power for him to rely on, but there will be few drivers pushing as hard as Rantanen. “It’s going to be a hell of a rally,” said Rantanen, who is currently contesting the British Rally Championship. “We’re going to face the best drivers in Super 2000, but my goal is the top position - this is a chance for me to show my skills.”

There’s another Skoda Fabia S2000 in there worth watching as well - the Swedish version of P-G Andersson. Fresh from his Rally Bulgaria debut with the Stobart team, Andersson returns to his S-WRC duties keen to find the form which carried him to a comfortable home win on the first ever Super 2000 world round.

Talking of keen, however, few will be as fervent about success in Jyvaskyla on Saturday evening as the Finns. Ketomaa said: “Rally Finland is one of the hardest and fastest rallies of the season and it will be very tough this year with so many Scandinavian entries that are familiar with the stages. We’ve had two fantastic weeks of weather in Finland so I’m hoping this continues for the rally - it will be a fantastic event for the spectators.”