This rally began to gain importance in the 1970s, and local heroes such as
Hannu Mikkola,
Markku Alén,
Timo Salonen,
Tommi Mäkinen and
Marcus Grönholm are the most successful names at this rally, and Swedish drivers such as
Stig Blomqvist also found success at this rally. The difficulty of this rally for non-Nordic drivers made notable competitors such as
Walter Röhrl (who never competed at this rally) and
Miki Biasion (who only competed at this rally twice in his 15-year career) make rare or no appearances at this rally.
1950s 19 driven in 1956 Rally Finland was started as a quickly improvised qualifier event for the
Monte Carlo Rally; thirty Finnish drivers wanted to take part in Monte Carlo, but only 14 were able to fit within the quotas on Finns and Swedes. Previously, the entries had been decided in the
Hanko Run in Southern Finland. The regulations in this race were not close to those of the Monte Carlo Rally, leading to a demand for a Monte Carlo type of rally in Finland. The winner Arvo Karlsson, driving an
Austin Atlantic, had accumulated the least penalty points and had been the closest to the target times throughout the route and the special tests involving hillclimbing and acceleration. during the 1956 rally. The 1952 event included
Helsinki as an alternative starting point and the field expanded to 48 entries. Eino Elo was the only driver to finish the route and the acceleration and braking tests without penalty points. In 1953, Oulu was added as a third starting point, and 66 crews started the 2,200 kilometre course in two-minute intervals. The 1954 running of the rally saw the introduction of the international name "The Rally of the Thousand Lakes". There were now eleven starting cities, one of which was
Sundsvall in neighbouring Sweden. In 1955, the event became increasingly closer to the format of a modern rally competition; the number of
special stages was increased to eleven, marking the highest amount in any European rally. Elo and Peugeot became the first two-time winners of the event. The 1956 rally featured 19 stages totaling . In 1957, the rally had a record number of entries from foreign countries and the organisers developed a sign language that marshals could use to communicate with drivers. The event also started the Finland-Sweden international in rallying, seven drivers crashed out on the same curve on a foggy night. Brothers Osmo and Eino Kalpala took a record third win in an
Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI, which marked the first victory for an Italian car. In 1959, the 1000 Lakes Rally was included in the
European Rally Championship calendar. It was also one of the four rallies that counted towards the first-ever
Finnish Rally Championship.
1960s and Bengt Söderström during the Hippos circuit stage in 1964 At the 1960 1000 Lakes Rally, nearly half of the 85 entries were from foreign countries. Although the rally ended with Finland's Carl-Otto Bremer leading home a Saab triple win, the best Finn had been only tenth after the opening Harju hill stage. Later in the 1960s, the 1000 Lakes was dominated by the first generation of "
Flying Finns" of rallying.
Rauno Aaltonen beat
Pauli Toivonen to the win in 1961, while Toivonen took the honours in 1962. Esko Keinänen and Rainer Eklund finished second in a
Škoda Felicia. A record 104 drivers started the 1962 event.
Simo Lampinen, barely twenty years old, became the first driver to take consecutive wins, finishing ahead of Sweden's
Tom Trana in 1963 and 1964. drives a
Mini in 1965. Interest in the 1000 Lakes Rally continued to grow. It became known as the best organised rally competition after the
Monte Carlo Rally, and as Finland's biggest sporting event by audience count. As practice had been allowed for 1965, speeds became higher than ever. One spectator was killed in a crash in 1965. over 2,000 for 1967 and over 3,000 for 1968. As the organisers and the gravel roads could not handle fields close to 200 cars, only 130 of the 173 entries qualified for the start in 1965. Along with the number of entrants, the percentage of retirements grew steadily throughout the decade, and 1966 saw nearly half of the 115 drivers fail to finish the 26 stages.
1970s drives a
Fiat 131 Abarth The 1970 1000 Lakes had a record 52 stages, which totaled 460 competitive kilometres. An estimated audience of 350,000–500,000 spectators watched Mikkola match Mäkinen's feat of three wins in a row. However, the event suffered a drop in the number of foreign entries, which the international press attributed to the difficulty of defeating the Finns on their own roads. In 1971, the rally was won by a Swedish driver for the third time;
Stig Blomqvist finished well ahead of Tapio Rainio and
Markku Alén. The 1972 event increased the length of special stages to almost 700 km. The traditional Harju hill stage was left out of the route as Jyväskylä had banned racing in the city area. with a
Ford Escort RS1800 in 1978 The 1000 Lakes was not among the five European rallies guaranteed a spot in the inaugural
World Rally Championship calendar. It competed for the remaining three Europe-based entries with the
Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Rally),
Österreichische Alpenfahrt (Austrian Alpine Rally),
Rally Poland and
Rallye de Portugal. The world championship status had brought back a strong international field of about 50 teams from 13 different countries. The 1974 event was marred by the first
fatal accident for a competitor in the World Rally Championship, after co-driver Seppo Jämsä died of injuries sustained in a crash in Ouninpohja. The rally route became a secret again in 1975, and pre-event practice was heavily limited. Mikkola drove to a record fifth victory and Toyota became the first Japanese manufacturer to win the event. The 1977 and 1978 rallies were, in addition to the WRC, part of the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers, the predecessor to the
drivers' world championship. In 1978, the course stretched to
Kuopio and as a result 25 of the 45 special stages were new. The 1979 1000 Lakes raised the highest number of accepted entries to 150, and all 134 competitors could start the rally. World championship points were now awarded for drivers as well as for manufacturers. Fiat's Alén collected most by taking his third win in the event, ahead of
Ari Vatanen and eventual champion
Björn Waldegård.
1980s 's
Peugeot 205 T16 E2 of the 1986 event For the
1980 season, the 1000 Lakes Rally lost its status as a world championship event for manufacturers, running for the first and last time only as a world drivers' championship event. The rally saw the return of the short Harju asphalt stage held in the center of Jyväskylä. Although the rally became the first in the world to issue action and safety instructions in 1980, several serious accidents marred the event in the early 1980s. At the 1981 rally, Austrian driver
Franz Wittmann lost control of his
Audi Quattro after the finish line of the fourth stage and crashed into five end-of-stage officials. Raul Falin, the chairman of
AKK-Motorsport, died of his injuries soon after reaching the hospital. He rolled his car several times and hit a wall of people who had been spectating in a forbidden area. All over 150 contestants passed the inspection. Dominant
Audi took a one-two with its factory drivers
Hannu Mikkola and
Stig Blomqvist, with
team orders keeping them in their positions for the last half of the race. The 1983 rally featured a field of 180 cars, over a hundred of which failed to make it to the finish. Mikkola edged out Blomqvist to extend the event record to a still-standing seven wins. Mikkola's time on the Ouninpohja stage was 11:56; 52 seconds faster than his time just four years ago. In 1984, over half a million spectators were expected and about 5,000 marshals were appointed. Vatanen won the event and
Peugeot continued their success in the last two
Group B years, as
Timo Salonen drove to victory in 1985 and 1986. The 1985 event marked the first time the drivers' world championship had been decided in Finland; Salonen captured the title with three rallies to go. In 1986, the route was modified to bring the average speeds closer to the
FISA limit of 110 km/h. The top drivers exceeded the limit almost regularly, but
FISA had given the organisers a 10 percent flexibility. A record 214 drivers signed up for the 1988 event and 200 were qualified to start by the organisers.
Albert II, Prince of Monaco arrived to follow the event and was scheduled to drive a few stages in an ex-Alén Lancia. In one of the tightest duels in the event's history, Toyota's
Juha Kankkunen led Lancia's
Markku Alén by just two seconds after 33 of the 39 stages. Kankkunen's engine failed on the next stage,
1990s , the first non-Nordic winner behind the wheel of an Gr.A Escort RS Cosworth in 1996 The 40th anniversary event in 1990 featured a route stretching to
Tampere and gathered a large audience, roughly estimated at 450,000–500,000. Toyota's Spanish driver
Carlos Sainz became the first competitor outside Finland and Sweden to win the rally. He had been slightly injured earlier during the week, when he crashed during a night-time practice run in the Vesala stage. Sainz's feat was soon repeated;
Didier Auriol, who had become the first Frenchman on the podium in his debut in 1988, beat his Lancia teammate Kankkunen to the win in 1992. Kankkunen took his second win in three years in 1993. In 1994, the rally was renamed to Neste 1000 Lakes Rally as
Neste became the title sponsor. A new super special stage was built at a slope of the Himos ski centre in
Jämsä and it quickly proved popular among spectators. Due to the WRC round rotation from 1994 to 1996, the 1995 Rally Finland was only part of the
2-litre World Cup (better known as Formula 2). As a result, audience numbers dropped. The event was also overshadowed by a fatal accident. During the rainy and windy Hassi stage, a 20-year-old spectator did not hear the
zero car driven by
Bruno Thiry coming. After hitting a bump and getting airborne, he missed the curve and went straight, hitting a road sign and a concrete barrier. 45-year-old Belgian tourist Ludo Briers was operated on within 38 minutes, but his injuries soon proved fatal. In a subdued celebration, drivers from Central Finland manned the podium;
Tommi Mäkinen took his third win in a row, ahead of Kankkunen and
Jarmo Kytölehto. In 1997, AKK Sports, the marketing company of
AKK-Motorsport, took over as the organiser and the WRC teams awarded the event for its safety efforts. A new super special stage was built at Hippos, along with a VIP village for 1,600 people. In the following year, teams voted the event as the Rally of the Year. Entry lists included ice hockey star and auto racing enthusiast
Teemu Selänne, who finished 33rd in 1997 and 24th in 1998. The event also attracted environmental criticism throughout the decade; protests gathered about a hundred participants in 1997 and two hundred in 1998. In a 1997 study by the
University of Jyväskylä, partly funded by AKK, Jyväskylä and Rally Finland, the environmental impact was estimated to be small; the noise from the rally cars, helicopters and speakers was considered the biggest harm. In 1999, Harju was dropped from the route and extra points were awarded to the three fastest drivers of the Ruuhimäki stage, which was televised live by
Yle to millions around the world.
2000s on the Killeri stage with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo at the
2001 Rally Finland After years of rumours of the rally moving from Jyväskylä to Southern Finland for better accommodations,
Tampere announced its intention to host the event after 1999. Jyväskylä retained the event but the headquarters were relocated to the large newly built Paviljonki congress and trade fair centre. Previously, Laajavuori had served as the competition centre for 30 years. The 50th running of the Rally Finland in 2000 was won by Peugeot's
Marcus Grönholm, who would go on to dominate the event. In 2002, Englishman
Richard Burns challenged teammate Grönholm to become the third non-Nordic competitor to win the rally, but broke his car on a jump in Ouninpohja while leading the event. The next foreign winner was
Ford's Estonian driver
Markko Märtin in the following year. For the first time in the history of the event, no Finnish driver made it onto the podium. during
2010 shakedown Rally Finland was chosen the "Rally of the Year" for the third year in a row in 2004. Despite
Lahti entering the race, a unanimous decision was made to keep Jyväskylä as the rally headquarters. In 2005, Grönholm set the still-standing record for the highest average speed in a world rally; . In the
2007 Rally Finland, Grönholm equalled Mikkola's win record and became the first driver to win the same WRC event seven times. At the
2008 rally,
Sébastien Loeb added his name to the list of non-Nordic winners. This also marked Citroën's first win since 1962. As the World Rally Championship reintroduced round rotation in 2009, Rally Finland signed a five-year contract with WRC promoter
International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC), insuring that the event stays in the calendar annually. The
2010 event saw a major change; the rally was run in two days instead of three and finished on Saturday. Ford's Finns
Mikko Hirvonen and
Jari-Matti Latvala took their debut home wins in 2009 and 2010, respectively. At the
2011 Rally Finland, Loeb made history by becoming the first non-Finn to win the event twice. The event expanded to Lahti in the south and brought classic rally cars to the route, as some of the stages were also part of the Lahti Historic Rally. ==Characteristics==