Strong entry for Rally Finland

Home hero Mikko Hirvonen leads the 101 car strong entry list for the ever popular Rally Finland, again sponsored by Neste Oil.

The 101 crews entered into the rally make it the most popular rally of 2013, sporting fourteen WRC cars. Citroen, M-Sport and Volkswagen are all present with their usual drivers, the only exception being Kris Meeke replacing Khalid Al-Qassimi, who will be absent due to other commitments.

Meeke's last WRC rally was in 2011 on Wales Rally GB, where he finished a career-best fourth overall. Since then, his competitive running has been minimal, mainly confined to testing, 00 duties on the Ypres Rally in the new Peugeot 208 R5 and a once-off appearance at the Lurgan Park Rally in 2012 (which he won, naturally). He will take over Al-Qassimi's entry as a once-off.

Sebastian Loeb hasn't nominated Finland as one of his four rallies this year, he has confirmed he isn't interested in adding any extra rallies to his already extremely busy schedule.

Local hero's Jarkko Nikara and Juho Hanninen both mark their competitive returns, Nikara in an uprated Prodrive-run MINI John Cooper Works WRC, and Hanninen in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Riku Tahko pilots the other MINI on the entry list, the most amount of MINI's seen on a WRC entry list since Michal Kosciuszko switched from a MINI to a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Yazzed Al-Rajhi heads the WRC2 entry, which also features Robert Kubica, Robert Barrable, Jari Ketomaa, Esapekka Lappi and Elfyn Evans, who is taking part in a Ford Fiesta R5. Barrable and Karl Kruuda will also pilot the new Fiesta R5.

WRC3 is dominated by the Citroen R3 drivers, headed by Sebastian Chardonnet. Alastair Fisher (who lead the WRC Academy round here in 2011), Christian Riedemann, Bryan Bouffier and Keith Cronin are also present. Cronin looking to overturn a 27 point deficit to series leader Chardonnet after having suffered horrible luck in the past couple of rounds.

Junior WRC leader Pontus Tidemand starts at number 102 in his Ford Fiesta R2, and he can expect to be put under pressure by second in the Championship Jose Antonio Suarez and by local drivers Niko-Pekka Nieminen and Andreas Amberg.