Rally Finland to stay at two days

Date published : 06 Aug 2010 - 08:50:16

The organisers of Rally Finland have admitted the two-day format is near-certain to stay for next season, following its successful first running on last week's World Rally Championship round.Rally Finland finished on Saturday instead of Sunday, following the organiser's decision that the third and final day of the Jyvaskyla-based WRC round was uneconomic.Jarmo Mahonen, managing director of AKK - the firm which runs Rally Finland, said: "The revenue I get on Sunday is smaller than the cost. It always loses money. It's the same for all the sport. Look at football, they are played on Saturday here in Finland."Sunday seems to be a holy day for people. They want to be at home to be prepared to work on Monday. All sport seems to be going to Saturday, especially in the summer. We're pleased with the way this event has run this year, everybody seems to be happy."Mahonen added that further developments are planned for Rally Finland off the back of the event's long-term deal with WRC promoter North One Sport. The primary plan is for a new purpose-built superspecial stage close to Jyvaskyla in time for next season's event."We are going to have a new superspecial but we don't have the place yet," Mahonen said. "We have several places we are looking at but we won't go away from the city. We don't have any [car] manufacturers in Finland, we are a small country but we have the passion."Without the passionate people out in the forests this wouldn't be anything. We try to be the best in the world and nobody comes close."