2019 Rally Rally Finland 69. Neste Rally Finland | |||
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Round 9 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
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Host country | Finland | ||
Rally base | Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi | ||
Dates run | 1 – 4 August 2019 | ||
Start location | Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi | ||
Finish location | Ruuhimäki, Toivakka | ||
Stages | 23 (307.58 km; 191.12 miles)[1] | ||
Stage surface | Gravel | ||
Transport distance | 1,066.09 km (662.44 miles) | ||
Overall distance | 1,373.67 km (853.56 miles) | ||
Statistics | |||
Crews registered | 65 | ||
Crews | 61 at start, 49 at finish | ||
Overall results | |||
Overall winner | Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 2:30:40.3 | ||
Power Stage winner | Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | ||
Support category results | |||
WRC-2 winner | Nikolay Gryazin Yaroslav Fedorov Nikolay Gryazin 2:41:09.0 | ||
J-WRC winner | Tom Kristensson Henrik Appelskog Tom Kristensson 2:55:17.2 |
The 2019 Rally Finland (also known as Neste Rally Finland 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars held over four days between 1 and 4 August 2019.[2] It marked the sixty-ninth running of Rally Finland and was the ninth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. It was also the fourth round of the Junior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based in Jyväskylä in Keski-Suomi, and was contested over twenty-three special stages with a total a competitive distance of 307.58 km (191.12 mi).
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending rally winners. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.[3] The local crew of Eerik Pietarinen and Juhana Raitanen were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly created WRC-2 Pro class by Škoda Motorsport.[4] The Estonian crew of Ken Torn and Kuldar Sikk were the reigning winners of the Junior World Rally Championship, but they did not compete the rally.[5]
Tänak and Järveoja successfully defended their titles, adding their winning number to double figures. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, won the rally three years in a row.[6] Local youngster Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen took their fourth consecutive victory in the WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the Russian crew of Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov won the wider WRC-2 class as well as snatching their first WRC point.[7] Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog took their second victory of the season in the junior category to regain the championship lead.[8]