After two very high level and competitive FinTrack races it was time to pack the bags and move to the next race. The third race of the Finnish championship series, better known as FinTrack Tour, took place in northern Finland in the town of Kiiminki on the 5th of March. The race was organized by the local OUA club at the same venue where the clubâ™s own Blue Carpet Cup is also raced. The track was medium traction carpet with a quite technical profile. The track was also smaller than we had seen in the two previous races this season. With most of the Finnish top drivers on the grid it was going to be an exiting race to watch.
Qualifying
After 2 rounds of free practice it was time to run 4 qualifying rounds. After 4 rounds of qualifying standings in modified class were:
A-final
1. Simo Ahoniemi
2. Sakke Ahoniemi 3. Vesa Yli XRAY T1FK'05
4. Jouko Termonen
5. Christer Andersson
6. Panu Vehniäinen
7. Tommi Torikka
8. Mika Manty 9. Arto Viitalahde XRAY
10. Kalle Lehto
Race for the front row places was very close in every qualifying round. XRAY got 2 cars to the A-final with Vesa Yli taking 3rd place right after the Ahoniemi brothers and Arto Viitalahde making his first A-main finish in his first modified season with his XRAY FK.
In Prostock Class (17t motors) Matti Nevala dominated the competition with his XRAY FK by taking the most wanted TQ spot with amazing 7 second gap! Jani Seppala with his FK secured excellent result for Xray. It was really nice to see Matti back in the game after a few months break from racing. It seemed to have only had good influence on him as his car was really flying through the corners the whole day.
In Stock Class XRAY driver Miko Teponoja took TQ spot ahead of another XRAY driver Joni Minkkinen. Jaakko Sernola took 5th place on the grid with his XRAY.
Finals
(click to enlarge)
In the modified class battle for the win was close between Simo, Sakke and Vesa when other drivers were fighting slightly behind. After 3 rounds of finals the final results were:
Modified A-final
1. Simo Ahoniemi
2. Sakke Ahoniemi 3. Vesa Yli XRAY T1FK'05
4. Christer Andersson
5. Jouko Termonen
6. Tommi Torikka 7. Arto Viitalahde XRAY
8. Panu Vehniäinen
9. Mika Manty
10. Kalle Lehto
ProStock A-final
1. Matti Nevala TQ XRAY
2. Jani Seppala XRAY
3. Jarkko Mustonen XRAY
Stock Class A-final
1. Miko Teponoja TQ XRAY
2. Joni Minkkinen XRAY
3. Viljami Kutvonen 4. Jaakko Sernola XRAY
(click to enlarge)
FinTrack Tour points in touring car classes after 3 races:
Modified
1. Simo Ahoniemi
2. Sakke Ahoniemi
3. Jouko Termonen
4. Christer Andersson 5. Vesa Yli XRAY
6. Teemu Saarinen
7. Tony Raikas
8. Kalle Lehto
9. Ari Salminen
10.Jarno Siltanen
ProStock
1. Jani Seppälä XRAY
2. Ari Lappi 3. Jarkko Mustonen XRAY
4. Jukka Penttinen XRAY
5. Niko Vuorenmaa XRAY
6. Risto Bloigu
7. Harri Nyman 8. Ville-Pekka Karhu XRAY
9. Matti Korvenmaa XRAY
10. Lauri Hautanen XRAY
FinTrack Tour continues in 6 weeks at the exotic Laukaa race venue. After a successful beginning of the season we can expect great results from the race.
