Once again, the New Year has started and at the same time the traditional SM Itäralli is approaching. The race will be run again in the winter landscapes in first weekend on March. This year’s competition will certainly include top speed, we’ll have drivers from the top of the Rally World Championship.

The current state of the rally on the Finnish sports has gone up comfortably for the past couple of years. The Rally World Championship has got new high-performance WRC cars, which immediately increased interest in the rally world-wide. Finns have always been a motor sport people and now that new Finnish names are coming to the WRC, the number of followers and spectators is increasing.

The Finnish Rally Championship (Ralli SM) series 2019 starts on the last weekend of January at the legendary Artic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi. According to the Arctic adventure, Valtteri Bottas and Mika Salo, who are familiar with F1 tracks, and Niclas Grönholm, who is familiar with RX World Rallycross, have entered to Arctic Lapland Rally, so start following the Ralli SM series already now.

SM Itäralli, organized by Joensuun Urheiluautoilijat, will take its place, as the third, and last winter race of the rally series race, on Saturday 2 March. Over the years, many rally champions have been honored by the North Karelia rally roads and spectacular scenery. Ari Vatanen, Markku Alen and Marcus Grönholm have won Itäralli earlier.

This year, the route circulates both north and south of Joensuu. Partly we go for the legendary special stages, but there is also something new, so with the old pace notes you will not survive whole day. After service in afternoon’s Special Stage could be crucial for standings; over 30-kilometer rollercoaster will to lift the sweat on the driver’s forehead.

This year’s race will be also seen and heard in the center of Joensuu. Rally start will take place in the morning from the new marketplace in center of city Joensuu. In addition, after a couple of years of breakout, people will have a great opportunity to come to follow the competition on the Joensuu trotting-track, where the Super Special Stage and prize giving ceremonies will take a place in the early evening.

Legendary, roller-coaster roads, as well as good arrangements, will certainly allure many of Finland’s toughest drivers this year to Joensuu to fight for SM points. One of the most interesting drivers of our competition will be the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta, who drives Toyota Gazoo Racing’s WRC Yaris. It is rare to get WRC car and team to Finnish competition, so we are looking forward to see what kind of performance the young talent will show us on challenging Itäralli roads.

Welcome to Joensuu in March!

Text: Timo Louhelainen, Communications Manager at SM Itäralli