Teemu Suninen says he wants to build upon his past experiences of Wales Rally GB as he prepares to take on the 2019 edition of the event.
Suninen has a mixed year so far in the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship; after a tough start to the year, he has somewhat improved his performances topped off with a highest result of second on Rally Italia Sardegna.
Although he retired from the Welsh event 12 months ago, the young Finn had been looking set to be battling for a podium position and he wants to use this experience in his bid for a strong result this year.
He said ahead of the rally which gets underway on Thursday: “I really like this rally and have done well there in the past. I didn’t have a lot of experience of the stages last year, but I was really pleased with my performance – setting some good times and running in podium position before having to retire. So the goal this year will be to continue that performance, and see if we can challenge for the top positions.”
“We completed a full day of testing in Greystoke and, even though the base there is a bit harder than what we’ll see in Wales, I think we manged to find a good set-up and will be able to deliver a good performance on these challenging stages.”
The M-Sport driver made the decision to change co-driver midway through this season and this will be the first time Jarmo Lehtinen has sat alongside him on the Welsh gravel stages and Suninen went on to say about the challenges in Wales: “Maybe the biggest challenge though is the lack of sleep. Probably we will only get about four or five hours a night – and the road sections to the first stage can be pretty long. It will be physically and mentally challenging to stay alert in those first stages, but that is all part of the challenge in Wales.”
Wales Rally GB begins on Thursday evening with an opening stage around Oulton Park.
