18-year-old rising rally star Tuuka Kauppinen moves up to the SM1 class for 2025’s Finnish Rally Championship. Rautio Motorsport’s youngest driver and 2024 SM3 class champion will contest the series with a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The Finn will be joined by a new co-driver for the season, Sebastian Virtanen.
Kauppinen’s team-mate for 2025 in the SM1 Class is defending champion Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka, although this pairing won’t contest the full RalliSM season.
“This is a great opportunity, and I’m really excited about it,” said Kauppinen. “I’ve had the chance to test the Toyota once, and I quickly became comfortable with the car. The test left a positive impression, but I still need more mileage to fully exploit the car’s potential. With Rautio Motorsport, we’re aiming for success.”
Roope Korhonen prepares for the Swedish Rally on home soil
Korhonen will kick off his 2025 season at the Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi, which is the second round on the Finnish calendar. He’s campaign will take in a mix of international rallies, with his first international outing being the WRC2 Rally Sweden.
“The goal in Rovaniemi is victory, although we will likely also use it as a test and keep our main focus on the Swedish World Rally,” Korhonen shared.
Last season, Korhonen’s results in the WRC2 class were disappointing despite showing strong pace at times. His best result was fourth place in Sweden, but this year, he is aiming higher.
“This is an important season for the future, and now we need to perform better,” he adds. “Last year, we had three rallies where a podium finish was possible, but it remained just a dream. We need to find consistency to achieve results. It’s not enough to succeed on just one stage; we must be able to deliver top times consistently throughout the entire rally.”