Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles
All Finnish lockout in WRC as Lindholm claims WRC2 title in Japan
Emil Lindholm has now clinched two world driver titles this season as he secured the WRC2 driver’s world championship title in Rally Japan on Sunday morning. Making it an all-Finnish lockout in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship after Kalle Rovanperä won in WRC and Lauri Joona in WRC3.
Lindholm managed to secure the WRC2 Junior world title before Spain when the rival Chris Ingram was forced to sit out the rest of the season following the crash in Acropolis Rally Greece. Ahead of Rally Japan, it was a three-way battle for the main title but Andreas Mikkelsen was absent in Japan and Kajetan Kajetanowicz crashed out on Friday. Lindholm only needed to bring the car home in fifth to secure it.
Lindholm lead the rally most of the weekend but got passed by Grégoire Munster on the penultimate stage later he also got passed by Teemu Suninen on the power stage which resulted in Lindholm getting dropped down to third overall in the class and that was enough to win the title by seven points over Mikkelsen.
Munster´s pass on the penultimate stage also resulted in a first win in the WRC2 class for the young Luxembourg native. Ex-Formula 1 legend Heikki Kovalainen claimed fourth on his WRC debut as he passed the 2021 Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari who dropped down to fifth on the power stage.
Official results for WRC2
| Pos. | Number | Driver / Co-driver | Nat. | Team | Car | Time |
| 1. | #24 | Grégoire Munster / Louis Louka | Luxembourg / Belgium | BMA | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | 2:51:43.1 |
| 2. | #22 | Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula | Finland | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | + 21.6 |
| 3. | #21 | Emil Lindholm / Reena Hämäläinen | Finland | Toksport WRT | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | + 34.8 |
| 4. | #29 | Heikki Kovalainen / Sae Kitagawa | Finland / Japan | Rally Team Aicello | Skoda Fabia R5 | + 1:09.0 |
| 5. | #23 | Sami Pajari / Enni Mälkönen | Finland | Toksport WRT | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | + 1:10.0 |
| 6. | #26 | Sean Johnston / Alexander Kihurani | USA | Saintéloc Junior Team | Citroen C3 Rally2 | + 3:02.7 |
| 7. | #28 | Mauro Miele / Luca Beltrame | Italy | Toksport WRT 2 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | + 4:42.7 |
| 8. | #30 | Osamu Fukunaga / Misako Saida | Japan | Three Five Motorsport | Skoda Fabia R5 | + 10:12.4 |
| 9. | #35 | Eamonn Boland / Micahel Joseph Morrissey | Ireland | Eamonn Boland | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | + 10:51.2 |
| 10. | #32 | Luke Anear / Stuart Loudon | Australia / UK | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | + 13:36.3 |
| 11. | #25 | Bruno Bulacia / Gabriel Morales | Bolivia / Brazil | Toksport WRT 2 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | + 14:15.1 |
| 12. | #37 | Satoshi Imai / Shizuka Takehara | Japan | AKM Motor Sport | Citroen C3 Rally2 | + 23:39.5 |
| 13. | #36 | Frédéric Rosati / Patrick Chiappe | France | BMA | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | + 28:00.0 |
| 14. | #27 | Fabrizio Zaldivar / Marcelo Der Ohannesian | Paraguay / Italy | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | + 53:01.4 |
| 15. | #34 | Jean-Michel Raoux / Laurent Magat | France | Jean-Michel Raoux | Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 | + 1:03:51.6 |
| 16. | #20 | Kajetan Kajetanowicz / Maciej Szczepaniak | Poland | Race Seven | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | RETIRED |
| 17. | #31 | Tosihiro Arai / Naoya Tanaka | Japan | Stohl Racing | Citroen C3 Rally2 | RETIRED |
Copyright
© The Checkered Flag