2022-Lauri Joona's season ended with a championship celebration The class win in the Catalunya World Rally Championship sealed Lauri Joonas as the World Rally Championship WRC3 class champion

- Really good feeling, it's a great thing when this championship was achieved! It was not an easy race when the weather conditions varied and asphalt is not exactly the strongest surface for us. Fortunately, through all the coincidences we got to this situation and the championship party, rejoices Lauri Joona after the championship was confirmed.

The Catalan World Championship Rally was definitely not an easy race for the Sastaman and the championship was not easily won. Technical problems and changing weather conditions brought their own challenges to the race, and since it was only Joona's second asphalt race this season, the driving rhythm was sometimes also in search. Although the other champion candidate, Jan Černý from the Czech Republic , gave a tough resistance, the newly minted champion managed to set the fastest time in no less than nine special stages and take the decisive race to his name.

Before the World Rally Championship in Catalonia, this season Joona has achieved two victories (Sweden and Finland) and two second places (Portugal and Estonia) in the WRC3 category. So the third full point pot came from Spain.

- Consistent performance throughout the season has been the key to the championship, Joona analysed.

In the 2022 season, Lauri Joona has already achieved silver in the rally championship series. He finished fourth in the Junior World Series and now adds a full pot from the WRC3 class of the World Rally Series to his achievements. All of this would not have been possible without an extensive support network, to which Joona sends a big thank you from Spain:

- A very big thank you to everyone who has been involved this season: partners, family, sponsors, carters, team and all supporters. Without the pillars, this would not be possible.

Mikael Korhonen, who worked as Lauri Joona's karter in the WRC3 series, finished second in the karter championship series.

Lauri Joona is still very quiet about his plans for next season. We'll talk about them later, now it's time to celebrate the season's successes.

Final results: Rally RACC Catalunya, WRC3 class1. Lauri Joona – Mikael Korhonen (FIN) 3:04:36.1

2. Jan Černý – Petr Černohorský (CZE) +9.0

3. Diego Dominguez – Rogelio Penate (PRY/ESP) +5:44.8

4. Zoltán László – Tamás Kürti (HUN) +18:05.4

Standings, WRC3

1. Lauri Joona (FIN) 111

2. Jan Černý (CZE) 104

3. Sami Pajari (FIN) 874. Zoltán László (HUN) 73

5. William Creighton (IRL) 63

The full standings can be found at https://www.wrc.com/en/results-standings/championship-standings/seasons/championship-standings/season-2022/wrc3/

More information: Lauri Joona, 044 513 4251, lauri.joona@hotmail.fi