More than 4,000 workers power Rally Finland weekend

More than 4,000 people from different fields are working to make Rally Finland a success, Yle reports. Two of them are Enni Kurki, who runs a kiosk beside the Laukaa special stage, and Tuomo Häkkinen, who manages a rally parking area on his field.

For Kurki, the rally weekend is an intensive period of work, with days stretching from early morning until late at night. Preparations for the kiosk began on Thursday evening, when the tent and most of the supplies were taken to the site. Sales started early on Friday morning.

“Sausages, coffee and tea for the English,” Kurki said when asked which products sell best.

Kurki has run the kiosk beside the special stage for six consecutive years. This year, her work also included preparing food for the volunteers building the stage before the rally. About 80 volunteers have been working there each day.

Parking for 1,500 cars

Several parking areas for rally visitors have been set up near the Laukaa special stage. One of them, parking area P3, is located on Häkkinen’s seven-hectare field.

Häkkinen works as a steward at the site with a team of 10 people. He estimates that the field can accommodate about 1,500 cars. Overnight parking opened on Thursday.

According to Häkkinen, visitors at the overnight parking area celebrate until the early hours, but there have been no serious disturbances. Weather has caused problems in previous years. Last year, five cars had to be towed away after a thunderstorm softened the ground. The year before, about 20 cars were removed.

About 250,000 visits

AKK Sports, the organiser of Secto Rally Finland, reports the total number of visitors as spectator experiences across the different event areas during the rally weekend. Last year, the figure was about 267,000.

The service park at Lutakonaukio in Jyväskylä attracted 64,000 visitors last year. More than 27,500 spectators over the age of 12 attended the Harju special stage in central Jyväskylä.