Lahti Historic Rally

Ernie Graham banks FIA gold in dramatic conclusion

The 2024 edition of the Lahti Historic Rally was packed with twists and turns, but the final twist came after the driving had ended.  Frenchman Florent Todeschini, who delivered an astonishingly fast performance in his first race in a rear-wheel-drive car, celebrated overall victory on the podium.  However, during the post-event inspection, it was found that his Ford Escort RS did not fully comply.  The car, which features an option to use power steering and was fitted with a non-compliant rear axle Watt linkage solution, both as used in the French series, was deemed ineligible under international historic regulations.  Consequently, Todeschini was disqualified from the final results and Jari Huttunen, who was also enjoying the challenge of his first competition in a rear-wheel-drive car, was declared the winner, his Ford Escort RS looking at home on Finland’s gravel roads.

FIA Contenders

The event, which was the sixth round of both the Finnish and FIA European Historic Rally Championships, took place on 23-24 August with just 14 contenders for the European Championship.  This FIA category was also to see its own twists and turns, as well as its own dramatic conclusion.

A  number of front-running drivers encountered various issues, most notably when the 18-time FIA WRC rally winner Jari-Matti Latvala and Janni Hussi, who were considered the favourites, were forced to retire on Friday due to a timing belt failure in their Toyota Celica GT 4 (ST 165).  They re-joined on Saturday to show what could have been by setting the fastest times on all the remaining stages.  

Another spectacular comeback was made by Hungary’s Tibor Érdi Jr. in his four-wheel-drive Ford Sierra Cosworth.  After losing nearly six minutes to the leaders on the first stage, he mounted a furious chase, ultimately overtaking leader Graham and upsetting the order on the penultimate stage to lead the FIA contest.  However,  in a final twist, his hard work came to nothing when a gearbox failure on the last stage ended his rally, leaving a fourth outright FIA EHRC win for last year’s Category 1 Champion Graham.

The darkest moment of the rally occurred on Friday during the third special stage when Ville Silvasti, a frequent podium finisher in Lahti, spectacularly rolled his magnificent Audi Quattro.

Graham, with daughter Anna on the notes enjoying her first outright win, had switched from their usual BMW M3 to a Ford Escort RS 1800 Mk2, homologated in Group B specification.  The pair from Northern Ireland also triumphed in Category 4 ahead of runner-up and Category 3 winner Christophe Jacob (Ford Escort RS 1800 Mk2).  Behind the Belgian, Finn Jukka Jalonen took the final podium place in his Audi Quattro A2 followed by Austria’s Lukas Schindelegger (Ford RS 2000 Mk2).

Italian “Zippo” continued his quest for the overall FIA EHRC title in fifth place in his Category 3 Escort replacing his usual Audi Quattro, with Category 1 winner James Potter rounding out the top six at the wheel of his Flexifly Rally Team Ford Escort Twin Cam.  Potter, the provisional FIA EHRC Category 1 champion for 2024, also claimed the FIA EHRC 1600cc Trophy honours.

Having led until driveshaft failure stopped his Opel Kadett GSI 16V on Friday’s final stage, Norwegian Petter Fausko returned to the action on leg two and finished seventh. He also ended Piotr Gadomski’s run of victories for EHRC Front Wheel Drive Trophy after the Pole had won for three successive events.