The Pärnu Rata-SM provided plenty of events. Attached some pictures from the races, illustrating what went down. All photos courtesy Otto Hokkanen.
Day 1 races, as well as the time trials, brought rain. For most of the grid, rookies and oldies alike, the track's behavior under these conditions was something to explore. With multiple different types of asphalt, some slippery like ice, some quite grippy, finding the best path was not easy. Here Per Stenius, followed by Janne Knuutinen and Oskari Kurki-Suonio. Fair to say Oskari was the one who managed by far the best, finding speed despite the challenges the track offered.
Ville Kivinen (6) and Janne Knuutinen (16) battling it out in the first race. Neither one succeeded this time, with Ville's race ending in a DNF due to engine failure. Luckily team mate Jesse Anttila had spared his engine while demolishing the front end of his car in Friday's practice, and this gave Ville the chance to enter race 2 on Sunday. Olli Kaurala worked hard again...
Things were busy in the Söderman tent, with cars being fixed left and right. Two cars were cut in half, and a crucial engine transplant completed.
Sunday race started off with Oskar in the lead, tightly followed by Miikka Mäkelä. However, neither were to triumph this day, as honors went to Janne Knuutinen, Ville Kivinen and Sebastian Nummi. Oskari suffered electrical failure, and the gap his stopping opened allowed a squad of cars to pass Mäkelä and leave him outside the podium.
Oskari certainly deserved better after working all nite with the gearbox. Appparently the battery ran out, having not been charged during the nite. Most FFs showed deficient charging and batteries in the technical inspection after the race. Ragulations stipulate car should start five times without supporting battery, but this was hard to achieve for any of the cars. Heated solenoids, weak charging, and potentially weak batteries being blamed.
Despite Sunday's setback the weekend belonged to Oskari, showing promising pace with his Mygale SJ-06. The Finnish Championship is still open, with two race weekends to go (Botniaring and Ahvenisto Finals).
For s2i Motorsport the weekend was OK, with two 5th positions and no technical issues. We learned a lot from the fast (and slippery) Pärnu track, and managed to keep our position in the races. Only slip came in qualifying, where we were left last, losing with two tenths to Milla Mäkelä. However, in the races this was corrected swiftly. The challenge is now to close the 1.5...3 second gap to the main group, and get into contention - while managing to keep our completion rates clean like so far!
Day 1 wet race, Stenius followed by Milla Mäkelä in her Mtec '09 Duratec.
