Teemu Suninen successful in his first Rally Monte-Carlo with Team ORECA
For the World Rally Championship season opening, Teemu Suninen and the Team ORECA delivered a convincing performance at the Rally Monte-Carlo with the Skoda Fabia R5. Though he was discovering both the challenge and his new car, the young Finnish driver – 22 year-old – completed the sixteen timed special stages without making any mistake and despite very difficult conditions that made it all particularly tricky. With co-driver Mikko Markkula alongside him, he finally ranked 5th in RC2 (since he had not nominated this round, his name does not appear in the WRC2 class), having posted a fastest time and finally reaching the 12th rank overall. Suninen has gained experience that will prove to be precious in the future.
“This Rally Monte-Carlo taught him a lot…”
“Teemu is young but he’s demonstrated great maturity for his first Rally Monte-Carlo. His approach was the right one: he knew there’s no need to overdo it, he just gradually increased his pace and ended up completing the rally without making any major mistake. Yet the rapidly-changing conditions made it very difficult” ORECA’s Technical Director David Floury explains. “Most of what Teemu could have encountered as part of this so unusual rally happened. Thus this Rally Monte-Carlo taught him a lot and that will be very useful for him later on. He posted interesting times, such as his scratch time in the power stage for instance, and his consistency enabled him to clinch a convincing result. What a very positive season launching, all the more since it was our first entry with the Skoda Fabia R5! The team remained calm and did a great job, having made sound and appropriate choices in terms of tyres. Rally after rally our collaboration with Teemu and Mikko is getting better. It sets a good momentum for us. We’ll have to maintain it in Sweden – another very special rally.”
A first “scratch” to finish on a high note!
On Thursday, after the traditional start ceremony hosted in Monaco, Teemu Suninen was quite wise to start with, posting the seventh time of the first two stages. On the second day, his late running order meant that he had to cope with bad road conditions because of all of the contenders that had gone before him. Despite that, the Finnish driver gradually gained confidence and ended up being more successful in this second leg, ranking successively 8th, 7th and 4th in the SS6, SS7 and SS8. He entered the RC2’s Top 10 on Friday eve before moving onto the densest day of the rally which covered 174km in total. On Saturday morning, though he was forced to slow down when catching up with two other cars preceding him, Suninen clinched the 6th time twice in the longest special stage (SS9 and SS11). Apart from two spins in the tenth special stage, he managed to avoid the multiple pitfalls of the day and gradually climbed back up the hierarchy: 7th then 6th in class at the end of this third leg which he completed in the 4th and 7th positions. On Sunday, he was just seven tenths short of the Top 5 at the end of the SS13. He then moved into that leading quintet as part of the following special stage with a convincing 2nd time, though he unfortunately lost a couple of seconds behind another driver! Suninen completed his first Monte-Carlo Rally on a high note, with a fastest time in RC2 as part of the power stage, proving the fast driver he is. Enough to reach the 12th rank overall.
“The Rally Monte-Carlo is so special that nothing could replace it…”
“This first Rally Monte-Carlo has left me with a positive overall feeling. I was nervous to start with but finally had a smile on my face by the end of the weekend. I didn’t quite know what to expect between ice, snow and other sections that sometimes appeared to be completely dry” Teemu Suninen confides. “Conditions kept changing dramatically during these four days. It was surprising at the beginning but as the days passed I got better sensations. I learnt a lot and even though I could have gained experience with other challenges, the Rally Monte-Carlo is so special that nothing could replace it. I didn’t really know where I stood in this challenge before it started, but I’m satisfied with this Top 5 in RC2. We completed this rally by posting a fastest time, it’s good to deliver the performance we had been able to show on several splits. I felt good in our new car, I really like it. Mikko did really well and so did our team.”
Member of TMG’s Junior Driver Development Program Teemu Suninen will continue his season with Mikko Markkula and the Team ORECA attending the Rally Sweden in February (11-14). Just like in Monte-Carlo, the two men have not nominated this round for the WRC2 championship.