BRC

Scottish Rally Volkswagen preview

Volkswagen aims for a great Scot With Volkswagen's Flying Finn Jouko Puhakka holding second place overall in the British Rally Championship, the Sony/Revolution Wheels/Pirelli- backed team heads for the Perth Scottish Rally and the third round ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Volkswagen aims for a great Scot

With Volkswagen's Flying Finn Jouko Puhakka holding second place overall in the British Rally Championship, the Sony/Revolution Wheels/Pirelli- backed team heads for the Perth Scottish Rally and the third round of the championship in top form for another strong result.

Puhakka, 33, will be at the wheel of one of Volkswagen's trio of 'Colour Concept' Golf GTI 16Vs alongside fellow countryman Tapio Laukkanen and Brit Ashley Blenkhorn. His aim on the two-day Scottish, which starts in Perth on May 31, is to close the championship points gap between himself and series leader Gwyndaf Evans - and to help Volkswagen overhaul Nissan to claim second spot in the manufacturers' title race.

"I think it will be very hard to beat Gwyndaf," said Jouko, who finished fourth on last month's Pirelli International Rally. "He has won two out of two already and he knows the Scottish Rally well... But my Golf is going better all the time and, who knows..."

Who knows indeed, for last year the Volkswagen was runaway overnight leader of the Scottish Rally, Laukkanen relinquishing his advantage only after an accident on the closing day. Certainly the Finn is looking for a finish. "I cannot afford not to get to the end of this rally," said 26-year-old Tapio, both of whose '96 British outings have ended prematurely. "I know from last year that I have the speed to win in Scotland, but I also know that I must get some championship points in the bag..." Straight from Scotland, Laukkanen and Puhakka return home to prepare to defend their respective leads in the 2-litre and Group N classes of the Finnish Championship.

For Lincolnshire-based Ashley Blenkhorn, the Perth Scottish Rally provides the opportunity to climb the amateur driver rankings after his top-10 2-litre finish on the Pirelli. "We were lucky to get to the finish last time," said 26-year-old Ashley, "because we had all sorts of problems with the car. But we've put some more miles on it since then and I'm sure Scotland is going to be a turning point."

Ahead of Volkswagen's colourful trio lies a 650-mile endurance test featuring 140 stage miles through Fife, the Borders, Perthshire, Argyll and the Trossachs. The rally finishes in Perth on June 1.

Further backing for Volkswagen's Mobil 1/Top Gear RACMSA British Rally Championship assault comes from Trigard, Teboil, Siimesvaara, 3M and Brian James Trailers. -- Volkswagen rallying http://www.demon.co.uk/racing/vwrally.html

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Puhakka to join Laukkanen at Volkswagen

Next article Volkswagen signs Laukkanen

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Fernando Alonso backs IndyCar Barcelona race but warns against wider global expansion

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 13 min

Fernando Alonso backs IndyCar Barcelona race but warns against wider global expansion

MotoGP riders ask for guarantees to go and race in Qatar

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

41 min

MotoGP riders ask for guarantees to go and race in Qatar

Barcelona joins 2027 IndyCar schedule in multiyear deal

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Barcelona joins 2027 IndyCar schedule in multiyear deal

Lamborghini Super Trofeo |Europe, Race 2: Salonen/Tuomaala take the win, Iaquinta/Gilardoni crowned champions

Lamborghini Super Trofeo

LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo

World Finals - Monza 2026

1 h

Lamborghini Super Trofeo |Europe, Race 2: Salonen/Tuomaala take the win, Iaquinta/Gilardoni crowned champions

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts