2021 Arctic Rally Finland

The Arctic Rally was not included on the first calendar published by the World Motorsport Council.[6] The event was a late addition when Rally Sweden was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8] The Arctic Rally was chosen over six other reserve events because Rally Sweden was the only snow-based event on the calendar, and none of the reserve events were planned to run on snow.[9] Competitors are required to wear warmer overalls than usual for safety reasons.[10]

The Arctic Rally was run twice in 2021. The first running in January was held as a round of the Finnish national rally Championship, while the second running in February was a World Championship round. The national-level event was won by Juho Hänninen, driving a Toyota Yaris WRC.[11] The two events have the same organisers and similar routes.[10]

Reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia entered the round with a nine-point lead over Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were third, a further four points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held a twenty-two-point lead over defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, followed by M-Sport Ford WRT.

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene held an eight-point lead ahead of Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Eric Camilli and François-Xavier Buresi in third. In the teams' championship, Toksport WRT led Movisport by ten points.

In the World Rally Championship-3 standings, Yohan Rossel and Benoît Fulcrand led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by six points respectively. Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud were second, with Nicolas Ciamin and Yannick Roche in third in both standings, trailing by two points.

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3, and privateer entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Thirteen entries for the World Rally Championship were received, as were ten in the World Rally Championship-2 and twenty-three in the World Rally Championship-3.

Rally1 entries competing in the World Rally Championship

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	P
2	Oliver Solberg	Sebastian Marshall	Hyundai 2C Competition	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	P
3	Teemu Suninen	Mikko Markkula	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	P
7	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	Hyundai 2C Competition	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	P
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	P
11	Thierry Neuville	Martijn Wydaeghe	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	P
12	Janne Tuohino	Reeta Hämäläinen	JanPro	Ford Fiesta WRC	P
18	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	P
33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	P
37	Lorenzo Bertelli	Simone Scattolin	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	P
42	Craig Breen	Paul Nagle	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	P
44	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	P
69	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	P
Source:[12]

Rally2 entries competing in the World Rally Championship-2

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
20	Andreas Mikkelsen	Ola Fløene	Toksport WRT	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
21	Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	P
22	Eyvind Brynildsen	Veronica Engan	Toksport WRT	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
23	Sean Johnston	Alex Kihurani	Saintéloc Junior Team	Citroën C3 Rally2	P
24	Jari Huttunen	Mikko Lukka	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 R5	P
25	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Movisport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
26	Ole Christian Veiby	Jonas Andersson	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 R5	P
27	Nikolay Gryazin[lower-alpha 1]	Konstantin Aleksandrov[lower-alpha 2]	Movisport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
28	Georg Linnamäe	Volodymyr Korsia	ALM Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
29	Martin Prokop	Michal Ernst	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	P
Source:[12]

Rally2 entries competing in the World Rally Championship-3[lower-alpha 3]

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
30	Teemu Asunmaa	Marko Salminen	Teemu Asunmaa	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
31	Emil Lindholm	Mikael Korhonen	Emil Lindholm	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
32	Mikko Heikkilä	Topi Luhtinen	Mikko Heikkilä	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
34	Eerik Pietarinen	Antti Linnaketo	Eerik Pietarinen	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
35	Johan Kristoffersson	Patrik Barth	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
36	Mattias Ekström	Emil Bergkvist	Mattias Ekström	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
38	Egon Kaur	Silver Simm	Kaur Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
39	Gregor Jeets	Andrus Toom	Gregor Jeets	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
40	Ville Ruokanen	Timo Pallari	Ville Ruokanen	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
41	Pekka Keski-Korsu	Markus Silfvast	Pekka Keski-Korsu	Škoda Fabia R5	P
43	Tuomas Skantz	Kari Kallio	Tuomas Skantz	Škoda Fabia R5	P
45	Jussi Keskiniva	Mikko Kaikkonen	Jussi Keskiniva	Škoda Fabia R5	P
46	Ari-Pekka Koivisto	Jussi Kärpijoki	Ari-Pekka Koivisto	Škoda Fabia R5	P
47	Fabrizio Zaldívar	Carlos del Barrio	Fabrizio Zaldívar	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
48	Lars Stugemo	Karl-Olof Lexe	Lars Stugemo	Škoda Fabia R5	P
49	Rakan Al-Rashed	Hugo Magalhães	Rakan Al-Rashed	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
50	Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Bernhard Ettel	Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
51	Michał Sołowow	Maciek Baran	Michał Sołowow	Citroën C3 Rally2	P
52	Vladas Jurkevičius	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	Vladas Jurkevičius	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
53	Marko Viitanen	Tapio Suominen	Marko Viitanen	Škoda Fabia R5	P
54	Mauro Miele	Luca Beltrame	Mauro Miele	Škoda Fabia R5	P
55	Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz	Rodrigo Sanjuan	Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
56	Adrian Chwietczuk	Jarosław Baran	Adrian Chwietczuk	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
Source:[12]

Oliver Solberg is set to make his Rally1 début in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC prepared and entered by Hyundai's satellite team Hyundai 2C Competition at the rally. His co-driver for this rally is Sebastian Marshall as his regular co-driver Aaron Johnston has to miss the rally after he was found positive with COVID-19.[13] FIA World Rallycross Championship driver Mattias Ekström will make a one-off appearance in the rally.[14]

The rally will be contested over ten special stages totalling 251.08 km (156.01 mi) in competitive distance. The route of the rally is different to that of the first running of the event in January 2021. All of the stages will be run in reverse, with the exception of the Aittajärvi Power Stage. The Mustalampi stage returned to the itinerary from previous runnings of the Arctic Rally, with some sections being brand-new.[15]

All dates and times are EET (UTC+2).

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja won the event for Hyundai. Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen finished second for Toyota and took the lead in the championship. Ogier crashed on Saturday but was allowed to restart the next day. Solberg lost fifteen seconds to an off on the power stage, on which Rovanperä set the fastest time to claim the maximum bonus points, 0.2 seconds faster than Craig Breen and Paul Nagle.[16]