The 3rd round of the 2010 Finnish Rally Championship (FRC) was held from 5th to 6th March in Joensuu. This would be the last snow rally this year for J.Salo in his Type Gr.N equipped Lancer Evo.X.
All the stages were demanding and with the battle heating up in the driver’s championships, J.Salo foresaw this rally to be a very tight battle. J.Salo dominated the rally from the first stage and built up a 18.5 second gap by the third stage. “We put our best on the fourth and fifth stages. Especially on the fifth stage we have a lot of fun flying and jumping all 10 kilometers through. On the seventh stage we lost couple of seconds because of the spectators who were walking on the stage.” J.Salo commented.
He had no need to push to the limit on the last 30 km stage and went on to win the rally with a 27.2 second lead. J.Salo said “It might look easy but it wasn’t. We had an excellent day; no mistakes, no technical problems. Driving felt calm.”
By taking this victory in the final rally for the winter season, J.Salo moved up to first place in the driver’s championship with 61 points. Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland team mate K.Katajamäki lies in second on 52 points. The upcoming summer season brings a new change for J.Salo. After nine years competing side by side with co-driver M.Stenberg, J.Salo will be competing in the next round in Kouvola with new co-driver, T.Tuominen. M.Stenberg will be pairing up with J.Ketomaa in P-WRC for the rest of the season. Stay tuned for more action in June for the summer rounds of the 2010 FRC season. |
