Season highlight at speed: The prestigious Rally Finland is considered the mother of all World Championship rallies and is reverently referred to as the “Grand Prix on gravel.” After less than a year in rallying, Claire Schönborn will tackle this special challenge for the first time this coming weekend. Flashback: In August 2024, the 25-year-old took her place in a rally cockpit for the first time. Since then, her learning curve has been extremely steep. Finland’s flowing and fast-paced special stages are now putting her rally training on “fast forward”. Not just a mix of humility and confidence is required but also quick thinking. The preparations for this World Championship classic are therefore meticulous.

From the very first meter of the Stemweder Berg Rally, Schönborn not only underscored her enormous driving talent but also her special skills in working with a co-driver, the art of detailed route notes, and in matters of strategy, such as the correct tire selection. Her rally debut in an Opel Corsa e-Rally marked the beginning of a rapid rise to the Junior WRC. The next milestone for the Hunsrück native now awaits in Finland.

After a strong performance at the Acropolis Rally in Greece, Schönborn and her co-driver Michael Wenzel are expecting a completely different scene in Finland. The fast gravel roads around Jyväskylä are considered the ultimate challenge in the World Rally Championship – and feature high-speed banked corners and numerous jumps. This requires humility, but also courage and intensive planning. In Finland the duo prepared for the fourth of a total of five rounds of the JWRC. Their rally week began with final preparation drives in their Ford Fiesta Rally 3 by M-Sport, covering a total of 60 valuable kilometers.

Quote ahead of Rally Finland

“Rally Finland is considered an absolute highlight in rallying. There is nothing cooler, but also nothing more challenging than taking part in this classic event – and this in only my ninth rally. I have a lot of respect for it. During the final test with my co-driver Michael Wenzel at the start of the rally week, we focused on the tasks ahead. Thanks to the route, which is representative of the World Championship rally, we got a good feel for Rally Finland. Now it’s time to make as accurate notes as possible during the two-day recce so that we can get into a good rhythm right away during the rally.”
Claire Schönborn

Pace notes and detailed preparation with Finnish rally ace Teemu Suninen

Between JWRC rounds Schönborn looks to continuously develop herself as a rally driver. She has benefited from coaching sessions with experienced rally ace Teemu Suninen. In addition to tips and tricks behind the wheel, the former WRC driver from Finland works with her on her pace notes. At high speeds it is essential to receive precise yet concise information about the route and the perfect driving line. Anyone who finds a good methodology here has laid a valuable base – no wonder even the world’s best rally aces are constantly optimizing their pace notes. Suninen’s wealth of experience, who has competed in almost 90 World Championship rallies since 2014, winning 15 special stages in the top category and achieving WRC podium finishes in Portugal, Mexico, and Italy, proved to be very valuable for Schönborn. “I’m very grateful to Teemu. His knowledge, especially in rally preparation and pace notes, is very valuable to me and my development. I’ve learned a lot already but there’s still a lot of potential. I’m simply grateful to have such an experienced driver like Teemu supporting me,” the German rally driver said, appreciating the intensive collaboration.

Facts and figures

Rally Finland is a classic of the WRC. Its history goes back far beyond the beginnings of the top league in 1973. The rally in northern Europe was first contested in 1951. Since then, the event has firmly established itself as the pinnacle of the rally world. Not only World Championship points are up for grabs, a great deal of prestige also comes with it when the world’s best rally teams tackle a total of 20 special stages covering 307.22 kilometres in the 2025 edition from July 31 to August 3. At the Rally Finland, Schönborn will face a total of 25 competitors in the class of all-wheel-drive Rally3 cars, nine of whom, like Schönborn/Wenzel, are battling for points in the Junior World Championship. A total of 66 teams will compete in Finland, including the factory entries from Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford in the top category. Further information on the World Rally Championship is available on the official website www.wrc.com. Rally.TV will broadcast the special stages live.