Rally Finland is among the largest annually organised public events in the Nordic countries, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators each year.

26 entrants tackled the 1,700 kilometre (1,060 mi) route that stretched to Rovaniemi in Lapland, through Kokkola and Oulu, and back to the rally headquarters in Jyväskylä.

[5] The winner Arvo Karlsson, driving an Austin Atlantic, had accumulated the least penalty points and had been the closest to the target times throughout the route and the special tests involving hillclimbing and acceleration.

[13] In 1957, the rally had a record number of entries from foreign countries and the organisers developed a sign language that marshals could use to communicate with drivers.

[16] Brothers Osmo and Eino Kalpala took a record third win in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI, which marked the first victory for an Italian car.

[17] A deaf-mute road worker was hit by Germany's future European champion Eugen Böhringer in what was the event's first fatal accident.

[18] Although the rally ended with Finland's Carl-Otto Bremer leading home a Saab triple win,[19] the best Finn had been only tenth after the opening Harju hill stage.

[24] Simo Lampinen, barely twenty years old, became the first driver to take consecutive wins, finishing ahead of Sweden's Tom Trana in 1963 and 1964.

The 1969 rally saw the circuit and street stages, which favoured faster sports cars and factory team drivers, dropped from the programme.

[36] However, the event suffered a drop in the number of foreign entries, which the international press attributed to the difficulty of defeating the Finns on their own roads.

[37] In 1971, the rally was won by a Swedish driver for the third time; Stig Blomqvist finished well ahead of Tapio Rainio and Markku Alén.

[43] The 1974 event was marred by the first fatal accident for a competitor in the World Rally Championship, after co-driver Seppo Jämsä died of injuries sustained in a crash in Ouninpohja.

Fiat's Alén collected most by taking his third win in the event, ahead of Ari Vatanen and eventual champion Björn Waldegård.

At the 1981 rally, Austrian driver Franz Wittmann lost control of his Audi Quattro after the finish line of the fourth stage and crashed into five end-of-stage officials.

[44] At the 1984 rally, British driver Julian Roderick lost control of his car on a popular spectator area in the Humalamäki jumpers.

[55] Dominant Audi took a one-two with its factory drivers Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist, with team orders keeping them in their positions for the last half of the race.

The 1985 event marked the first time the drivers' world championship had been decided in Finland; Salonen captured the title with three rallies to go.

[65] In one of the tightest duels in the event's history, Toyota's Juha Kankkunen led Lancia's Markku Alén by just two seconds after 33 of the 39 stages.

[70] Sainz's feat was soon repeated; Didier Auriol, who had become the first Frenchman on the podium in his debut in 1988,[71] beat his Lancia teammate Kankkunen to the win in 1992.

[73] A new super special stage was built at a slope of the Himos ski centre in Jämsä and it quickly proved popular among spectators.

[79] In a subdued celebration, drivers from Central Finland manned the podium; Tommi Mäkinen took his third win in a row, ahead of Kankkunen and Jarmo Kytölehto.

[88] In 1999, Harju was dropped from the route and extra points were awarded to the three fastest drivers of the Ruuhimäki stage, which was televised live by Yle to millions around the world.

[89][90] After years of rumours of the rally moving from Jyväskylä to Southern Finland for better accommodations, Tampere announced its intention to host the event after 1999.

[91] Jyväskylä retained the event but the headquarters were relocated to the large newly built Paviljonki congress and trade fair centre.

[92] The Hippos super special was dropped in favour of a similar stage at the Killeri harness racing track by the lake Killerjärvi, where the audience had better visibility of the competing cars.

In 2002, Englishman Richard Burns challenged teammate Grönholm to become the third non-Nordic competitor to win the rally, but broke his car on a jump in Ouninpohja while leading the event.

[104] Rally Finland is known for its smooth and wide gravel roads, numerous big jumps (or yumps) and blind crests.

[111] As the high-speed corners are often surrounded by trees, carefully crafted pacenotes and correct racing lines are necessary to survive the event; small errors easily lead to big crashes.

In 2003, Markko Märtin set the record for the longest jump, travelling 57 metres (187 ft) in the air at a speed of 171 kilometres per hour (106 mph).

Jarmo Mahonen, managing director of AKK Sports, stated that "the matter was discussed with the FIA already last year, and at the time we were able to keep Ouninpohja as a part of our route.