For the first time since Super Sunday was introduced, the final leg consisted of just one stage repeated
Photography by M-Sport & Toyota
Words by Luke Barry
Rally Finland winner Jonne Halttunen believes his home event set a new standard for Super Sundays in the World Rally Championship.
In what the event dubbed ‘Ouninday’, Rally Finland’s final day consisted of just one stage (Ouninpohja) repeated – the first time that’s happened since the Super Sunday points system was introduced last year.
This enabled crews to get up later than normal, and provided spectators with one focal point of entertainment throughout the day without compromising too badly in terms of Sunday mileage.
“It should be the norm in the future,” Halttunen, Kalle Rovanperä’s co-driver, told DirtFish, “beauce the people have already gone the day before in camper vans through the stage, they can spend all day. So for us but also for the audience this is something we have to look for for the future.
“And also we don’t have to wake up at 5am, we can sleep well, we are happy and can speak to people and not be grumpy in the morning! This is a good format for everybody.
Would F1 garner the same interest if it started as early as WRC days do? Halttunen makes the point
“Nobody would go and watch Formula 1 if it started at 7am in the morning, so it’s starting at a good time,” Halttunen added. “Long days are no issue but we have to also think about the audience and who will come and at what time, so for me it’s brilliant and the stage is brilliant.”
Several drivers were also complimentary about the format.
Ott Tänak told DirtFish: “It’s basically how Sunday should be. It’s not really about making it as long as possible, it’s more to make it entertaining and like a quick shootout where everybody pushes to the maximum and I think that’s the way it is at the moment.”
Rovanperä said it was the “right thing for the fans” as “we can build something where everybody can stay in the one place and can make a big show for everybody”, with his Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier also a fan of the concept.
World championship leader Elfyn Evans, however, had some reservations, feeling the penalty in terms of championship points was too large if things didn’t go to plan.
“It’s a brilliant format, I think it’s great,” he added. “The only thing I would say is that probably for how many points are on offer, we should be doing more mileage than this. 40 kilometers is a bit too short, but that’s just because of the championship points as it is.”
The minimum distance of special stage kilometers for any one leg is currently set at 45km – Finland’s final day was 47.96km.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener feels the Finnish organizer, AKK, deserves credit for trying something different.
“I was at the stage and it was fantastic to see so many spectators creating a brilliant atmosphere,” he said. “As a championship we need to innovate and do things differently, so it’s important to test different formats and ideas.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Jonne Halttunen, Ouninpohja, Rally Finland, Rally Finland 2025, Super Sunday, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date August 8, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/08/9Whz80u5-235_WRC_FIN_25-780x520.jpg August 8, 2025
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