Neste Rally Finland

The rally has been held since 1951, first as a national competition and since the introduction of the World Rally Championship in 1973. 1951 route was Jyväskylä-Kokkola-Oulu-Kemi-Rovaniemi-Taivalkoski-Kuusamo-Kajaani-Kuopio-Varkaus-Jyväskylä. That's ~1700 km thru night and day driving! In nowadays called the Neste Oil Rally consist under 400 competitive kilometers fast gravel roads. In the year 1954 the international name Rally of the Thousand Lakes appeared in the events logo for the first time. Lightning fast, smooth gravel roads and huge ‘yumps’ which launch cars high into the air make this one of the year's classic events – a rally for the brave - giving the event its nickname, 'the Finnish Grand Prix'. 2010 - The 60th anniversary event! Now is the perfect time to start planning this summer´s rally trip. Rally Pass is valid from July 29 - 31, 2010. The route´s 19 stages total 310 kilometres. Get your rally group together and book your tickets in advance from the Neste Oil Rally Online Ticket

Videos The Rally of 1000 Lakes (8 min) Saab 1977- Name of the Game (32 min) WRC Rally 1000 Lakes 1973 Petter Solberg Ouninpohja 2004 record drive

1000 Lakes rally
Rally is based in the bustling university town of Jyvaskyla, around 275 kilometres from the capital Helsinki. During the 1980s the rallys international name was gradually shaped in to 1000 Lakes Rally, although the original logo always held the longer version. The event signed its first title sponsorship deal and became Neste 1000 Lakes Rally in 1994. This is the only rally in the championship which has been run from the same headquarters town every year since the start of the series in 1973.

Big names and marvelous films: In the late 1960s, there was a Castrol produced film of the 1968 Rally of 1000 Lakes in Finland called "The Flying Finns". Toyota's first win in motorsport came at the 1975 1000 Lakes Rally of Finland, when Hannu Mikkola and his co-driver, Atso Aho, won the event in a Toyota Corolla. This film features the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1977 in Finland (Saab, 32 minute video) film is called “Name of the Game”.

Neste Oil Rally
In 1997 changing of its name into Neste Rally Finland. In fact rallying is virtually the national sport in Finland. The 2000 Neste Rally Finland was the 50th Jubilee/Anniversary of the event. It has proven to be one of the best rallies in all aspects, not just because of lakes and jumping. The WRC teams voted Neste Rally Finland "Rally of the Year" in 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Over the years, the event has been dominated by the Scandinavians. Tommi Makinen's breakthrough win in the WRC came - even more aply - for Ford in the 1,000 Lakes in 1994. In fact 1994 and 1998 he won the Finnish event every year. Four Swedish wins in the course of the first 39 events and only three drivers outside Finland and Sweden have won the race (Carlos Sainz 1990, Didier Auriol 1992, Markko Märtin 2003). Marcus Grönholm has six wins but Hannu Mikkola still remains the master of the event with seven victories!
 

The most famous special stage is the 33 km Ouninpohja, with its spectacular high speed jumps. Markko Martin holds the record for the longest jump. In 2003 he travelled 57 metres in the air at a speed of 171 kph. There are around 50 jumps included in Ouninpohja so a driver can expect to cover 500 metres of the stage in the air. Year 2006 Grönholm's Ford Focus RS was recorded as being flat out in top gear on the gravel roads for a single sustained burst of 46 seconds at an average speed of 171 kph. On that 2004 Petter Solberg set a new stage record, smashing the previous one by six seconds. But as average speeds approached 130 kph, organisers acted to slow cars down and for 2005 - 2006 the stage was shortened and split in two called Ouninpohja West and Ouninpohja East.

Travel
Buy VM (Vauhdin Maailma) Rally Finland special issue! Get rally pass (full event pass) that is valid from Thursday to Sunday and it costs about 50 (~£34) euros. Unlimited access to all Special Stages including Killeri Super Special Stage and the Service Park area at Paviljonki. Neste Rally Finland "Karjala" girls are famous and always smiling you will meet them in Service park!

Hotels are heavily pre-booked by teams and organisers, so spectators usually put up in apartments/cottages etc. It's probably quicker for us to point out the places where you can't drink in Jyvaskyla - there can't be that many. The Finish currency is the Euro. Major credit cards, in particular Visa, Eurocard and Mastercard are widely accepted. The real social life in the town centres around the university's many bars and nightclubs. If ou want something a little bit different, then try pear cider or salmiakkikossu. The Finns are not a shy nation, and you can see guys strip off stark- bollock naked and jump into a nearby lake for a swim.

For more information, please contact the Rally Office:
P.O. Box 19, FIN-01301 Vantaa
Tel. +358 (0)207 219 460
Fax +358 (0)207 219 470

Roll of Honour *winner outside of Scandinavia

1951 Karlsson Arvo - Mattila Vilho, Austin Atlantic 1952 Elo Eino - Nuortila Kai, Peugeot 203 1953 Hietanen Vilho - Hixén Olof, Allard 1954 Kalpala Osmo - Kalpala Eino, Dyna Panhard 1955 Elo Eino - Nuortila Kai, Peugeot 403 1956 Kalpala Osmo - Kalpala Eino, DKW Donau 1957 Carlsson Erik - Pavoni Mario, Saab 93 1958 Kalpala Osmo - Kalpala Eino, Alfa Romeo 1959 Callbo Gunnar - Nurmimaa Väinö, Volvo PV 544 1960 Bremer Carl-Otto - Lampi Juhani, Saab 96 1961 Aaltonen Rauno - Nurmimaa Väinö, Mercedes 1962 Toivonen Pauli - Kallio Jaakko, Citroën DS 19 1963 Lampinen Simo - Ahava Jyrki, Saab 96 Sport 1964 Lampinen Simo - Ahava Jyrki, Saab 96 Sport 1965 Mäkinen Timo - Keskitalo Pekka, BMC Cooper S 1966 Mäkinen Timo - Keskitalo Pekka, Morris Cooper 1967 Mäkinen Timo - Keskitalo Pekka, BMC Cooper S 1968 Mikkola Hannu - Järvi Anssi, Ford Escort TC 1969 Mikkola Hannu - Järvi Anssi, Ford Escort TC 1970 Mikkola Hannu - Palm Gunnar, Ford Escort TC 1971 Blomqvist Stig - Hertz Arne, Saab 96 V4 1972 Lampinen Simo - Sohlberg Klaus, Saab 96 V4 1973 Mäkinen Timo - Liddon Henry, Ford Escort RS 1974 Mikkola Hannu - Davenport John, Ford Escort RS 1975 Mikkola Hannu - Aho Atso, Toyota Levin 1976 Alén Markku - Kivimäki Ilkka, Fiat 131 Mirafiori 1977 Hämäläinen Kyösti-Tiukkanen Martti,Ford EscortRS 1978 Alén Markku - Kivimäki Ilkka, Fiat 131 Abarth 1979 Alén Markku KivimäkI Ilkka, Fiat 131 Mirafiori 1980 Alén Markku - Kivimäki Ilkka, Fiat 131 Mirafiori 1981 Vatanen Ari - Richards David, Ford Escort RS

1982 Mikkola Hannu - Hertz Arne, Audi Quattro 1983 Mikkola Hannu - Hertz Arne, Audi Quattro 1984 Vatanen Ari - Harryman Terry, Peugeot 205 1985 Salonen Timo - Harjanne Seppo, Peugeot 205 Turbo 1986 Salonen Timo - Harjanne Seppo, Peugeot 205 Turbo 1987 Alén Markku - Kivimäki Ilkka, Lancia Delta 1988 Alén Markku - Kivimäki Ilkka, Lancia Delta 1989 Ericsson Mikael - Billstam Claes, Mitsubishi Galant 1990 Sainz Carlos - Moya Luis, Toyota Celica 1991 Kankkunen Juha - Piironen Juha, Lancia Delta HF Integrale 1992 Auriol Didier - Occelli Bernard, Lancia Delta HF Integrale 1993 Kankkunen Juha - Giraudet Denis,Toyota Celica Turbo4WD 1994 Mäkinen Tommi - Harjanne Seppo, Ford Escort Cosworth 1995 Mäkinen Tommi - Harjanne Seppo, Mitsubishi Evolution 1996 Mäkinen Tommi - Harjanne Seppo, Mitsubishi Evo III 1997 Mäkinen Tommi - Harjanne Seppo, Mitsubishi Evo IV 1998 Mäkinen Tommi - Mannisenmäki Risto, Mitsubishi Evo V 1999 Kankkunen Juha - Repo Juha, Subaru Impreza WRC 99 2000 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Peugeot 206 WRC 2001 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Peugeot 206 WRC 2002 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Peugeot 206 WRC 2003 Märtin Markko - Park Michael, Ford Focus WRC 03 2004 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Peugeot 307 WRC 2005 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Peugeot 307 WRC 2006 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Ford Focus WRC06 2007 Grönholm Marcus - Rautiainen Timo, Ford Focus WRC07 2008 Sébastien Loeb- Daniel Elena, Citroën C4 WRC 2009 Mikko Hirvonen - Jarmo Lehtinen, Ford Focus RS WRC 08 2010 Jari-Matti Latvala - Miikka Anttila, Ford Focus RS WRC 09 2011 ?