The annual meeting of the Order is this week, in Jyväskylä. It’s known as Rally Finland internationally, but it’s still known locally as the 1,000 Lakes Rally – in deference to the huge number of summer boating opportunitites, rather than a place Kankkunen might go for an afternoon stroll…Rally Finland is the highlight of the nation’s sporting calendar. But this year it’s even more important – the new pretender to Kankkunen’s crown, Kimi Matias Räikkönen, is in town, and so is the great Juha himself.
Kankkunen hasn’t competed at world rallying’s highest level since 2002, but he’s setting his sights on finishing ahead of Räikkönen – a former Formula One world champion who is currently enjoying his switch to motorsport’s muddier side – and despite his absence from the sport, Kankkunen says the competitive edge remains.
'I want to finish ahead of Kimi – that’s my aim' – Juha Kankkunen
“You can talk about getting to the finish and being sensible all of the time,” he says, “but when you pull on the crash helmet and the lights turn to green, then you forget all of that and just drive as fast as you can. I won’t be the same speed as the boys, but I will be driving as fast as I can. And I want to finish ahead of Kimi – that’s my aim.”
In a career which, when he makes the start of Rally Finland this evening, has spanned five decades, Kankkunen has won four world titles and won his home round of the World Rally Championship three times. Kankkunen has seen and done it all when it comes to rallying. And, having tamed the 600bhp Group B rally beasts (like the epic ‘Martini’ Lancia Delta, pictured below left in Juha’s capable hands) that roamed the Finnish forests in the 1980s, a Ford Focus RS WRC with half that power is not going to scare him. And neither is Kimi Räikkönen.
“The power from the current car is nothing special,” said Kankkunen. “I am used to twice this power. But the current cars are very impressive when it comes to the suspension and the speed through the slower corners.”
As a precursor to his rally return, Kankkunen sat alongside Ford’s top gun and another fellow Finn, Mikko Hirvonen, last year’s Rally Finland winner, on Kankkunen’s favourite road.
“From the start, Mikko was good,” said Juha. “The jumps and fast corners at the start were nothing special. But when we came to the first tight junction, I thought, ‘He’s forgotten about this corner!’ It was very impressive, the speed we carried.”
Kankkunen will need to carry all that speed in his efforts to stave off Räikkönen. The ex-Ferrari man has lived up to his ‘Iceman’ moniker, despite Finland enduring its hottest spell in 80 years this week.
“I’ve heard what Juha has said,” pointed out the inscrutable Flying Finn. “But I’m not going to make any predictions. Let’s just see where we both are at the end…”
Source: RedBull
