2021 Rally Finland
The 2021 Rally Finland was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over three days between 1 and 3 October 2021. It marked the seventieth running of the Rally Finland. The event was the tenth round of the 2021 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3. The 2021 event was based in Jyväskylä in Central Finland and was contested over nineteen special stages totalling in competitive distance.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending rally winners. The team they drove for in, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were the defending winners in the WRC-2 category, but they did not defend their titles, as they were promoted to the top class by Toyota. In the WRC-3 category, Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog were the reigning rally winners, but they did not defend their titles neither, as Kristensson was promoted to the WRC-2 class by M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin won the rally for the first time and their second of their season. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, successfully defended their titles. In the World Rally Championship-2 category, Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula won the event. The local crew of Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen took their maiden victory in the World Rally Championship-3 category.
Background
Championship standings prior to the event
Reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia entered the round with a forty-four-point lead over Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were third, a further six points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held a massive fifty-seven-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 led Marco Bulacia Wilkinson by twenty-two points in the drivers' championship, with Mads Østberg in third. In the co-drivers' championship Marcelo Der Ohannesian held a six-point lead over Ola Fløene, with Torstein Eriksen in third.
In the World Rally Championship-3 standings, Yohan Rossel led Kajetan Kajetanowicz by fifteen points in the drivers' championship, with Nicolas Ciamin in third. In the co-drivers' championship Maciek Szczepaniak held a thirteen-point lead over Alexandre Coria, with Yannick Roche in third.