New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon heads to the spiritual home of rallying in Finland this week, with some extra challenges added, as the second half of the WRC season commences.
The famously, fast-paced Finish stages are punctuated by the rally's trademark jumps and this year some of the tests will be run in the opposite direction.
Finland is the European WRC event of which Paddon and co-driver John Kennard have the most experience, yet organisers have compiled a route for the 2016 event which is 43% different from last year's.
"There's a lot of this year's rally which has a different configuration, but the character and the challenges - fast stages, lots of jumps and lots of speed - that make Finland so unique remain the same,'' Paddon said.
He noted on Facebook that the stages were are "looking as spectacular as ever'' in recce earlier this week.
"In fact, maybe even faster and smoother than normal. The stages in reverse to normal seem to be technical and tricky with the yumps/jumps but they will be amazing to drive at speed.''
A fan asked him to clarify the word "yumps'' and Hyundai Motorsport driver Paddon explained that jump meant a proper jump, while a yump "means the car will just get light''.
Aerial manoeuvres aside, Paddon and Kennard hold third position on their respective WRC drivers' and co-drivers' championship points tables, so the pair will run third on the Finnish roads for tomorrow and Saturday's special stages.
Making their seventh appearance together on the rally dubbed the Finnish Grand Prix, due to its high speeds, it is the event that feels most like home in terms of the roads and the country, Paddon said.
"The atmosphere in Finland is also incredible and that makes it an unforgettable rally to be part of,'' he said.
The target for the rally, which runs from today to Sunday is to keep being competitive at the front.
"We are at that point [career-wise] where we expect to be competitive on all gravel events, but stringing the results together comes down to so many variables, given that the competition is so close.
"Variables such as weather, road position, strategy on the day and preparation are all vital. It's fair to say we give it 110% at every event we go to in order to keep building towards our ultimate goal,'' Paddon said.
After crashing out of the consecutive Portugal and Sardinia rallies, Paddon got his season back on track with a third place at Rally Poland earlier this month.
Based in the town of Jyvaskyla, Rally Finland gets under way tonight with a street stage before tomorrow's route takes the 17 WRC competitors west for a series of classic forest challenges.
On Saturday, they head south for eight tests including two runs of the renowned Ouninpohja stage. The rally concludes on Sunday in the southeast into areas which have not hosted WRC cars this millennium.
