Mikko Pajunen to compete in the legendary Kielder stages
The promising Finn full of excitement ahead of the British Championship event
The British Rally Championship continues on the weekend with a real
classic event, when the attention and horsepowers turn to the
legendary Kielder gravel roads. Mikko Pajunen, from Jyväskylä,
Finland, and his co-driver Jani Salo look forward to the third event
of the season in their Autosport Technology Renault Twingo.
The Pirelli International Rally has 12 stages in surroundings that are
familiar to many Finnish: Kielder has seen many Finnish victories as
well as disappointments. Kielder, Europe?s largest planted forest on
the border of England and Scotland, used to be a regular World Rally
venue.
- The roads are absolutely brilliant. It is possible that they are
even too fast for our current car, but we will see. In any case, the
stages are excellent and last year here was successful for us.
Compared to last year, the stages are now driven to the opposite
direction though, so we have to make a new set of pace notes, says
Pajunen.
Pajunen managed to win his class last year. This year Pajunen is still
looking for his first victory, for in the first two events he came
second and third respectively. His speed would have gotten him
further, had it not been for his bad luck.
- The main goal is to finish without problems. We have had punctures
and all kinds of problems, as well as time penalties. Hopefully we
will stay clear of any tire problems, otherwise it will be very
difficult to try to stay with the top drivers. We will have one more
change to test the car before the weekend, and the aim is to try
different brakes at least, explains Pajunen.
The weekends event has a strong Finnish component. In addition to
Pajunen, there are Jussi Kumpumäki, Jukka Korhonen are Teemu Horkama
waving the blue and white colours. All the Finns are competing in the
R2 class, so there will be no shortage of brotherly fight.
The rally centers around Carlisle where M-Sport, the company running
Fords WRC operations, was founded. In his driving days, team manager
Malcolm Wilson won here four times. There are also many former World
Rally champions in the hall of fame: Colin McRae, Richard Burns and
Ari Vatanen.
One Finnish driver has managed two victories in the Pirelli Rally,
Tapio Laukkanen. With him in the first victory in 1999 was Kaj
Lindström who now sits with Kimi Räikkönen, and in the second time in
2003 Miikka Anttila who drives with Jari-Matti Latvala.
The rally starts on Friday evening and continues until Saturday.
« back to news