Rally Finland Route History VII:2014-2019

The Rally Finland routes returned to a tighter configuration in 2014 after three experimental years. At the same time, Sundays were brought back to the program. The speeds became higher than ever until they were once again slowed down deliberately. Almost all stages were now driven twice, with single-run stages becoming rare treats.

Route Preview: Rally Sweden 2020

The route of the only snow rally of the season has remained quite unchanged for the last three years, but now there’s quite a few new sections on the route. What remains is the overall structure where each day ends with the Torsby stage while the Karlstad super special is far from the other […]

Rally Finland Route History VI: 2010-2013

From 2010 to 2013 the routes of Rally Finland changed drastically. The competitive lengths became shorter, but the road sections sometimes longer. Some of the days were driven further South than in years, bringing back stages from the past. Visits to service park became sparser. In addition, one distinct thing for all these four rallies […]

Route Preview: Rallye Monte Carlo 2020

Rallye Monte Carlo runs under the flag of Monaco but all the stages are driven in France. Similarly the center of the rally is in the French city of Gap although the start and Finish are in Monaco. The rally offers again a unique blend of tarmac, ice and snow on mostly narrow roads in […]

Rally Finland Route History V: 2002-2009

From 2002 onwards Rally Finland has had only one service park in Paviljonki. Essentially this created the format of WRC events as we know them today. The routes remained quite similar during these years with new stages becoming rare. The era of very long stages also ends here.

Rally Finland Route History IV: 1996-2001

This post tells about the time when WRC cars were first introduced and 1000 Lakes Rally became Rally Finland. First the route was tightened through new rules which introduced service parks. At the same time, stages started to be repeated again, on a larger scale than before. Subsequently the overall length was also limited by […]

The 10 most dramatic stages of the 2019 WRC season

Which stages had the best battles to the second? Which power stages robbed rally leaders of their victories? Which stages turned into junkyards of rally cars? It Gets Faster Now! goes through the ten most dramatic stages of the 2019 season. Stages are listed in chronological order. Cover image by Richard Simpson (C). 1. La […]

Rally Finland Route History III: 1988-1995

This post focuses on the Group A era in the 1000 Lakes Rallies. After the exaggerated slowing in 1987, the stages were now again naturally flowing, but modernized with varying road types. There was also now only very little driving in the dark. Each leg reached out to a different direction and the routes were […]

WRC season 2019 review

The 2019 season introduced a new rally, but a whole round was cancelled along many individual stages. Some events remained as they were, while a few revamped their routes. Stages kept becoming shorter, whereas speeds became sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Cover photo by Richard Simpson / Flickr (C).

Rally Finland Route History II:1982-1987

Finnish gravel roads and Group B cars – what a combination. In these years the 1000 Lakes Rally route headed mostly South-West from Jyväskylä. It introduced its first night breaks, but still included long and tough days of driving. The stages were short but there were a high number of them, with a few double […]