Mercedes F1 Team driver Valtteri Bottas will once again be competing in the Artic Lapland Rally in January as he explains the benefits of rallying.
The new and improved Bottas made his rally debut ahead of the 2019 F1 season, where he finished fifth in a Ford Fiesta WRC. The Finn will make his return to Artic Lapland Rally in 2020 again albeit with a new team and car on January 16-18.
Bottas will race for PH Sport, with whom he recently won the Rallycircuit event, post finishing second in the 2019 F1 season. He will drive the Citroen DS3 WRC car and will have Timo Rautiainen as his co-driver, as per the entry list.
The rally also feature the to-be WRC driver in 2020, Kalle Rovanpera, in a Toyota Yaris WRC. It will be the youngster’s first competitive outing since being announced as a full-time top class rally driver at just 19-years of age.
Meanwhile, for Bottas, it will be another competitive rally outing after having had multiple tests in multiple WRC cars throughout the 2019 season with the likes of Ford, Citroen and Toyota. The Finn feels the rally runs helps him in his F1 driving certainly.
“For sure it’s not doing any harm,” said Bottas, when asked by FormulaRapida.net. “I like it, it’s good fun and the main thing is also to one of the main things is to do some some fun things between races because your life cannot be only F1.
“You need some some balance in your life and you need to do other things as well that makes you happy and helps you get your mind away from things to recharge your batteries. Rally driving skills is a very good sport.
“It is because you’re playing with the car all the time, there is no time that you’re actually sitting there waiting for something to happen. There’s always something you need to do to save the car and the situation so it improves your reaction and car control.
“I think it is really good for to get with changing conditions as well, as it’s all about being able to adapt to things very quickly in order to be on it in one or two corners instead of two, so it’s a brilliant sport for that.”
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