Well connected: Jyrkiäinen has impressive links to the WRC

Given its heritage, perhaps it’s no surprise that one of the three finalists selected to go through to the next stage of the Beyond Rally Women's Driver Development Programme was a Finn, and that honour went to 24-year-old Suvi Jyrkiäinen.

Soon, she will contest the WRC Central European Rally, and she heads there with a rich tapestry of rallying in the family. Both her parents were accomplished competitors, with her mother leaving a particularly impressive mark after etching her name on the WRC scoreboard in 1991, driving a Lancia Delta Integrale and setting a high bar for Suvi to follow.

“It was definitely an inspiration to get me started,” says Suvi. “It's cool to watch all the old videos when she was driving. And she's pushing me nowadays as well to drive a lot and try to improve.”

Her mother's experience served as a catalyst to pursue her motorsport ambitions, starting her driving career on the circuits by tackling the Finnish Touring Car Championship before making the transition to rallying in 2022.

And her debut season was guided by none other than former WRC driver Antony Warmbold, who has 45 WRC starts to his name. Tackling the top tier in the early 2000’s, the German driver piloted a Ford Focus WRC, and thanks to a family connection, was instrumental in Suvi’s early career and an interesting first co-driver.

“When my mum used to rally, she was in Anthony's dad's [Achim Warmbold] team, when he ran the Mazda rally team. Anthony has a Finnish wife, so they moved here. Even though he hadn't done any co-driving before, he was really good.”

Suvi secured her place at the Central European Rally thanks to her performance in the shootout and now faces one of the biggest challenges of her career. She will continue the tradition of interesting co-drivers, recruiting Antti Linnaketo, a WRC2 event winner.

“It's starting to sink in now, you know, it's not as big shock anymore. When they announced the three [finalists], there was already like one hundred things in my mind what do I need to do, how do I go to a WRC event and all the licences and everything but. But now it’s slowly starting to feel better and getting things under control.

“[CER] will be a really tough challenge because it will be my first tarmac rally and WRC event. There are so many new things, like all the cuts, and to figure out where they will be and the mud and all these things. But I hope to finish it. That's my goal, to finish.

“Two months ago, I would have never believed that I would be going to a WRC event. It's really amazing.”

Beyond the Central European Rally, one finalist will realise their ambition of competing in the Junior WRC Championship in 2025.