An impressive win for Teemu Suninen at the Rally Italia Sardegna!

Behind the wheel of his Skoda Fabia R5, entered by Team ORECA, Teemu Suninen successfully completed the Rally Italia Sardegna, as part of the World Rally Championship. Together with co-driver Mikko Markkula, the young Finnish driver clinched the win in WRC-2 after having been the first one to take control of the rally! Constantly at the top, posting numerous scratch times, the performance that Suninen – member of TMG’s Junior Driver Development Program – delivered impressed many, just like his great command of what is considered one of the most demanding rounds of this championship. One year after his success with Team ORECA in Italy, in WRC-3, Suninen managed to impose himself at the next level and ranked within the overall Top 10.

Hugues de Chaunac: “A superb win!”
“Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula were impressive throughout the entire rally. They’d already delivered a great performance in Portugal, but this time they got rewarded a superb win!” ORECA CEO Hugues de Chaunac says. “Rally Italia Sardegna is a tough and unforgiving one where one single mistake can straight away turn into a major catastrophe. Teemun’s performance, in such a dense class, is therefore admirable. Showing such speed and control at 22 year’s old only, bravo! Achieving the fastest time in the longest special stage of the rally perfectly demonstrates that. To rank 15 times out of 19 within the Top 3 is also really significant. The team worked well and allowed him to make the most of his full potential. Mission accomplished. On each round, Teemu has been raising up his game, we have to continue like this and to confirm in Poland.”

Teemu Suninen: “Really happy about this win…”
“There’re always some aspects that you can improve on, but everything went well. I’m really happy with this win that Mikko, ORECA and I have achieved together” Teemu Suninen notes. “The car behaved perfectly well and we were in the lead up until the flat tyre. It’s not an easy positon to be in when you have to come back to the first place again but we stayed confident. Things got better and better as we went through the different special stages and we didn’t encounter any trouble later on. The guys sorted out the car perfectly. It’s impressive to see what we can do now and the results we can achieve! It’s a fantastic outcome.”

Teemu Suninen notched up all scratch times!
Following on the traditional shakedown, Teemu Suninen started his Rally Italia Sardegna on Thursday evening after a first scratch time posted by one little tenth only. The following morning, he was in the lead of the second special stage, before it was interrupted. He then went onto posting the 2nd and 3rd times and completed the morning being the fastest one once again. He started the second loop with a scratch time which allowed him to settle his leadership a bit more as well as to show up amongst the WRC contenders. Unfortunately, Suninen got unlucky with a puncture in the SS8. Back in third place, he began and ended the day within the Top 3.
The 22-year-old Finnish driver delivered a flawless performance on Saturday – the longest day of the event. After special stages 10 & 11 he posted the 3rd and 2nd fastest times, while SS12 was marked by another contender’s crash, forcing him to stop. Back in the lead, thanks to his consistent presence at the top of the hierarchy, Suninen got an additional scratch time in SS13. 3rd in the following stage, he finally completed the day posting the best time on the longest special stage of the rally! Enough to be ahead by over than a minute!
The Skoda Fabia R5 No. 34’s crew were in perfect control of what they were doing in the final round, managing and maintaining their lead throughout. Without taking any single risk, the Scandinavian duo got a Top 3 again and a Top 5 to finally finish as winners, with about a 50-second gap. This first place in WRC-2 equals an 8th place overall.

After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, during which ORECA will be bringing its operational support to team TOYOTA Gazoo Racing, Temmu Suninen & Mikko Markkula’s WRC-2 programme will continue with the Rally Poland which will take place from June 30th to July 3rd.