Jari Huttunen with the Puma Rally1 at Rally Finland

Jari Huttunen will make his debut behind the wheel of a Rally1, and it will be the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1! The Finn, WRC3 champion in 2020, is entered with M-Sport for the Rally from Finland (August 4-7). Jari Huttunen joined the British team in November 2021 from Hyundai. Since then, he has won one victory (Monza), and signed two other podiums (Sweden, Italy), at the wheel of the Ford Fiesta Rally2 in four appearances in the WRC2 class. Jari Huttunen, 28, will be accompanied by his long-time co-driver, Mikko Lukka, who guided him to his WRC3 title two years ago. This season in WRC2, Huttunen took part in three meetings (Sweden, Croatia, Italy), setting 10 scratch times.

Jari Huttunen 🇫🇮 and Mikko Lukka 🇫🇮 to make Rally1 debut on @RallyFinland 🇫🇮

Returning a #68 Ford to the top flight of the WRC 🤩.#MSPORTERS #WRC #GoFurther pic.twitter.com/cYJ359vxrI

- M-Sport (@MSportLtd) July 6, 2022

Before heading to Finland, Huttunen will take part in a full day of testing at the Estonian Rally (July 14-17) to prepare and get used to the handling of the Puma Hybrid Rally1. At the same time, Huttunen will take part in the Estonian round of WRC2 driving the Fiesta Rally2. “ I'm very excited to race my national rally in a Puma, reacted Jari Huttunen. It will be a great experience and I can't wait to experience the atmosphere with the fans. This fast rally will certainly be a challenge with such a powerful car. But I already have good feelings with the Rally2, and it will be the same with the Puma. I'm enjoying working with M-Sport and I'm starting to really get out there at home. The objective this weekend will be to learn from the car and try to have a good pace. This Rally can be tricky, but I know it quite well. I'm delighted that M-Sport has given me this opportunity, and we intend to maximize it.« 

« I can't wait to see Jari behind the wheel of a Rally1, and I'm very proud that it's an M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, said Richard Millener, Team Principal of M-Sport. We are promoting a new generation of cars this season with this new hybrid era, so it is essential that we provide opportunities to a new generation of drivers. It's a source of pride as well as a tradition for M-Sport, we recently saw with Pierre-Louis (Loubet. Editor's note) what new talents are capable of. Jari has followed a similar path to Pierre-Louis when looking at his results, and I'm sure everyone will be watching Jari's progress. From a team perspective, we won't put any targets or pressure on him, we just want to see what Jari can do with the machine and tools at his disposal. It will be more of a learning exercise than anything else for Jari, Mikko (Lukka) and the team. Jari will start to learn what he needs to reach the top of the WRC, and we will learn what it takes to support and develop Jari to take him to the top level.«