Championship leader Oliver Solberg rejoins the series as a WRC top-flight event winner after scoring a sensational maiden win on debut for the Toyota's Rally1 squad at Delfi Rally Estonia two weeks ago. The event was set to be one of Solberg's WRC2 points scoring events before receiving a late call up to make a Rally1 return two and half years after his last event in the top class for Hyundai.
Following the euphoria of Estonia, Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson will return to the cockpit of their Printsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and readjust their sights back to fighting for the WRC2 title. The pair head to Finland, which marks their fifth point scoring start of the year, with a three-point lead over nearest rival Citroën driver Yohan Rossel.
Solberg has previously impressed on Finland's high-speed smooth gravel roads having taken the WRC2 victory there last year, when he finished fifth outright. The Swede will be among the favourites to shine this year.
"Like always, the fight will be big in Finland, there are a lot of really strong crews in Rally2 and we need to be ready for them. And, of course, we always see a lot of very fast local drivers coming – this is something which hasn't changed down the years," said Solberg.
"As you can imagine, it took me a moment to come down from what Elliott and me achieved in Estonia just last week. We're so grateful to everybody who made that happen, everybody in the TGR World Rally Team.
"That was something incredible, but that's done now. We are looking forward and that means getting back to the fight to keep Toyota at the top in WRC2. It would be an incredible result for the GR Yaris Rally2 to win back-to-back WRC2 titles in its first two years, that's what we're aiming for."
Rossel is also making his fifth start of the year having opted to sit out the championship's visit to Estonia. The Frenchman has only previously contested the rally on two occasions, recording a best finish of ninth in the Rally2 class last year. Rossel and co-driver Arnaud Dunand have however shown pace on gravel this year finishing second and third in Portugal and Greece respectively.
Sitting third in the championship standings are Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 crew Gus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson. The pair will be competing in Finland but are not registered to score points. This will provide Roope Korhonen a opportunity to overtake the duo in the title fight with the Finn eight points behind Greensmith in fourth. Korhonen (Toytoa GR Yaris rally2) has already proven this speed on smooth gravel, having finished sixth in WRC2 at this event las year.
Korhonen heads up an eight-strong Finnish contingent all eyeing success on home soil. The group includes 2022 WRC2 champion Emil Lindholm, who scored one of his two win during his title winning season in Finland. Toyota team principal and 18-time WRC event winner Jari-Matti Latvala is making a one-off appearance in the category, piloting a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Latvala contested the class in last year's edition, finishing second to Solberg.
After finishing fourth and sixth respectively in Estonia, Lauri Joona and Mikko Heikkilä return to the WRC2 ranks and will be expected to feature at the sharp end.
Likewise, Estonia's Robert Virves will be keen to build on the momentum from scoring an impressive maiden WRC2 win on home soil in Estonia two weeks ago. The triumph moved Virves up to eighth in the championship.
The 23-car entry lists also features the veteran Martin Prokop, who is set for his third start of the year after finishing an impressive third in Sardegna and sixth in Greece.
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