WRC 2
Korhonen conquers WRC2 in Sweden
Roope Korhonen has flashed his 2026 WRC2 title credentials with a comprehensive victory at Rally Sweden on Sunday.
Piloting a Toyota Yaris GR Rally2, Korhonen headed a Finnish lockout of the podium, 11.2sec ahead of Teemu Suninen and 56.2sec up on Lauri Joona. It marked 27-year-old Korhonen’s first victory on the snow and ice fixture having finished runner up on the same event 12 months ago.
"It's an amazing feeling," Korhonen said. "This was a really strong weekend for us. Big thanks to the team, Printsport, they did a really good job. Thanks to our engineer and Rautio. It was quite difficult in some stages, we tried to keep clean and avoid mistakes."
For second-placed Suninen, there were no shortage of positives to take away from Sweden, which marked his first WRC outing since 2024 in Finland. Running in a GR Yaris for the first time, and alongside new co-driver Janni Hussi, the former WRC top-tier regular consistently pressured Korhonen for top stage times.
Driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, a third-placed finish equaled Joona’s best WRC2 finish and his first podium since Secto Rally Finland in 2024.
Pipped for his best-ever WRC2 finish when he started Sunday in fourth overall, it all came unraveling quickly for Tuukka Kauppinen 10km into the morning’s opening stage when his Yaris sustained engine failure.
Kauppinen’s misfortune catapulted Taylor Gill into fourth, with the Australian continuing to turn heads on a remarkable WRC2 debut. The Finnish based 2025 Junior WRC runner-up completed the rally 23.1sec ahead of the best-finishing Swede Isak Reiersen.
Rounding out the top six was Poland's Michal Solowow, more than five minutes adrift of Reiersen.
