Teemu Suninen impresses with Top 10 overall in Rally Sweden!
Less than a month after a successful first go at the Rally Monte-Carlo – where he ranked fifth in the RC2 class – Teemu Suninen participated in the Rally Sweden for the first time this weekend. With co-driver Mikko Markkula and Team ORECA, the young Finnish driver impressed as part of the second round of the World Rally Championship. With a flawless performance, he ranked 2nd in RC2, less than 15 seconds away from the WRC2 winner (since he had not nominated this round, his name does not appear in the WRC2 class) and also achieved a convincing 10th overall position! On board his Skoda Fabia R5, Suninen proved sensational on Saturday eve as he posted the second fastest time overall as part of the Super Special Stage.
“Difficult to expect any more from a first go!”
“We had already very much appreciated Suninen’s performance in Monte-Carlo. He turned out to be even more impressive in Sweden” says ORECA’s Chairman, Hugues de Chaunac. “He’s more familiar with this type of conditions, nevertheless this was an unusual and tricky challenge. Teemu and Mikko were consistently amongst the fastest contenders. 2nd RC2 with 3 scratch times and 10th overall… To be really honest, it’d have been difficult to expect any more from them considering it was the first participation. Congratulations to them both! Teemu has had a very good approach so far and has managed these two difficult rallies very well. We’re riding an upward spiral at the moment, that’s positive and that confirms what we were hoping for: with Teemu, Mikko and the Skoda Fabia R5, we’ve got everything needed to reach the top of the leaderboard. We’re now very much looking forward to the next round in Portugal.”
Three fastest times for a first in Sweden!
The Rally Sweden’s itinerary was shortened due to adverse weather conditions: out of the 21 special stages initially scheduled, only 12 were maintained. Despite that, Suninen had ample time to prove the fast driver he is. On Friday, this rally began the way the previous one in Monte-Carlo had ended: Suninen clocked the fastest time in the RC2 class! Only once out of the Top 4 on that day, he delivered a strong second loop: twice 2nd and once 3rd. Enough to rank 2nd in RC2, around twenty seconds away from official Ford driver Elfyn Evans.
Saturday was just as positive a day for the Finnish duet. Constantly within the leading quintet in class, Suninen and Markkula managed to combine consistency and performance. They ranked 3rd in the SS10 and SS16 and once again clocked the fastest time in the last stage of the day. But mostly, they ranked 2nd overall as part of this super special stage, amongst WRC cars, and only 2.6 seconds away from the factory Polo driven by compatriot Jari Matti Latvala.
3rd in the RC2 before taking up the only special stage of the final day – power stage – Suninen wanted this rally to end on a high note and managed to do so with verve. With the best time in this SS21, he gained about six seconds in Pondus Tidemand coming back to the 2nd place in class, by one tenth only. The young Finnish driver finally ranked less than fifteen seconds away from the WRC2 winner, while also entering the Top 10 overall!
“Almost a perfect rally…”
“The Rally Sweden is a special event within the WRC calendar and it was very important for me to gain much experience there. That’s exactly what we’ve done and we have also shown a good pace. The outcomes are very positive” Teemu Suninen notes. “Before it started we thought that a place within Top 5 would have been a good result. In the end we came second in RC2, so we’re very pleased. We managed to come back to that place by clocking the fastest time in the final special stage and it’s obviously great to finish on that note. Generally speaking we posted some good times throughout the rally and had good feelings on board our Fabia R5. The car behaved very well and I think that we’ve done a great job with the team and our engineer. It’s almost a perfect rally for us.”
The Team ORECA will next compete as part of the Rally Portugal from May 19th to 22nd. Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula will be WRC2 contenders, aiming to score some important points after this very positive season start on board the Skoda Fabia R5.