WRC
Stage Guide: WRC Secto Rally Finland 2026
Secto Rally Finland’s 75th anniversary route blends iconic high-speed roads with fresh challenges, including two new stages and more than half of the competitive distance changed from 2025.
01
THURSDAY
SD Ruuhimäki
Famous for its high-speed jumps, Ruuhimäki is a Rally Finland staple. This year, it hosts only the pre-event shakedown. The route opens on the wide main road and its sequence of crests before turning onto a sandier, more technical section, with a huge man-made jump at the finish.
SSS1/10 Harju
One of the WRC’s best-known super special stages, Harju mixes Tarmac and gravel as it winds in and out of the city park. Narrow sections, frequent junctions and slow corners continually interrupt the rhythm.
FRIDAY
SS2/6 Laukaa
Laukaa has appeared on the past eight editions of Rally Finland. The 2025 route is retained but run in reverse, starting on a wide road before becoming narrow and technical.
A more angular section follows, leading into a very narrow and rutted forest road from 5.7km. The final kilometres are faster and medium-wide, narrowing briefly at 11.8km before opening out towards the finish.
SS3/7 Saarikas
First introduced in 2024, Saarikas returns in the same configuration as last year. It begins on a wide, flat-out road before becoming narrower and more technical after a junction.
From 4.47km, the road opens into a faster, flowing section, including a flat-out run into a hairpin at 10.23km. The finish remains high-speed aside from a short technical sequence. Ott Tänak crashed heavily here in 2024.
SS4/8 Sydänmaa
A new stage combining sections of the 2010 Sirkkamäki test and the Kalliokoski stage used in the early 1990s.
It opens on a medium-wide, flowing road through and around the forest. A new section from 7.1km is faster and lined by ditches, before a series of junctions leads onto a narrow road with long straights. The final section is wider and flowing.
SS5/9 Hoho
Friday’s second new stage uses roads from the 2023 and 1995 versions of Halttula.
The opening is medium-wide and fast before the route narrows through the forest. It becomes especially tight and technical from 4.29km, opens out again at 6.6km and then tightens after a hairpin at 8km before a faster run to the finish.
02
SATURDAY
SS11/15 Parkkola
Saturday opens with a route broadly similar to 2025, extended by 1.34km at the finish.
The stage starts on a wide, cambered road before turning onto a narrow, technical section with crests and elevation changes. A faster and wider road follows, leading to a hairpin at 10.2km and then another narrow section with a major jump at 11.8km. The closing kilometres mix high-speed and technical roads.
Carlos Sainz crashed out of the lead here after carrying too much speed over a crest in 1991.
SS12/16 Päijälä
The legendary stage is shortened and reversed for 2026. This version bypasses the classic Päijäläntie road and instead uses Sappeentie and Liehuntie, south of Päijälä, last run in this direction in 2021.
After an early bridge crossing, long, flowing and cambered corners combine with repeated elevation changes. The route becomes more technical after a junction, with alternating medium- and high-speed corners, before an especially intricate finish.
SS13/17 Västilä
Västilä runs in the opposite direction to 2025, in a configuration last used in 2001.
It starts on open, wide and fast roads before entering the forest at 4.66km, where the route narrows but remains quick. A detour beside a farmhouse acts as a chicane, after which wide roads, cambered corners, crests and several jumps lead to the finish.
SS14/18 Leustu
Leustu is unchanged from last year. The opening is almost entirely flat-out on a wide road before the stage turns onto a narrower, more technical but still fast section.
Another wide, high-speed road follows from 6.7km to 10km, before the route narrows again and reaches a major jump at 12.5km. The final section includes a tricky downhill hairpin at 14.65km and a fast, technical run to the finish.
SUNDAY
SS19/20 Himos-Jämsä
Sunday’s only stage is also the longest of the rally. It combines roads from the former Vaheri-Himos test, Patajoki and the 2023 Himos-Jämsä Wolf Power Stage.
The opening is wide, fast and flowing, with frequent elevation changes, before the route narrows through the forest while retaining its speed and rhythm. It then joins a wider road packed with crests, followed by a medium-wide section last used as part of Patajoki in 2022.
After a narrow stretch, the final part follows the 2023 Wolf Power Stage route, climbing through a mix of wide and narrow roads before a steep descent to the finish in the Himos parking area.
