Zoom P1 in the Keski-Uusimaa Rally

Fourth round of Finnish Rally Championship, Keski-Uusimaa Rally in Kerava, was successful for Subaru Dealer Team Finland when Jari Ketomaa claimed clear Group N victory with new TMR 08 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Two-times Finnish Champion Ketomaa and co-driver Miika Teiskonen were happy to start the opening round of Finnish summer season after many good testing sessions.

"We did many development work with Tommi Mäkinen Racing. We run tests in Italy and in Romania and most recently in Finland," said Ketomaa.

In the first stage of the rally Ketomaa lost 1.9 seconds to the leader, but after second stage he controlled the rally with five Group N fastest stages times in a row.

Finnish Subaru-star won the Gr. N event with 19.9 seconds ahead of Mitsubishi-driver Kosti Katajamäki and 21.7 seconds ahead of Kristian Sohlberg.

Overall winner was Jarmo Mikkonen with Peugeot 206 WRC, Jukka Hiltunen was second with Ford Focus WRC (+14.4 seconds) and Ketomaa was third (+15.4 seconds).

"We did have superb rally with no problems. The Impreza felt very good to handle in fast gravel roads. Second victory in a row in Finland is important for Subaru and for myself," Ketomaa added.

The latest victory was great news also for Tommi Mäkinen Racing.

"We are happy for development of this new car, TMR 08 Subaru Impreza. Ketomaa´s performance was very strong again and we did show the speed and potential of the car," said GM Esko Reiners.

Now Ketomaa leads the championship tied for lead with Katajamäki at 46 points, Juha Salo is third with 43 points. Ketomaa and Salo have both won two events and have one retirement each. Katajamäki has scored his points from all four events.

Next Finnish event, Kouvola Rally, will be run on 12th July. After that everybody in Finland start to concentrate to Finnish WRC event, Neste Oil Rally, on 1-3rd August.

© CAPSIS International