Gill ready to push among stacked Finland field

Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic will again fly the Aussie flag in the FIA World Rally Championship this week, starting Rally Finland as car 34.

Following podium performances in the Junior WRC field in 2024 (first) and 2025 (second), Finland was earmarked as a key part of the Australians’ part-program in 2026, and funding was duly secured for another tilt against the world’s best.

“Being on the entry list at Rally Finland for the third year running is a surreal thing – it still feels too good to be true,” Gill said amidst event preparations this week.

“It was always a part of the plan [to do Finland], but when we’re dealing with the sort of money that a WRC round costs, it was always going to be decided on an event-by-event basis, and we’re so grateful to our personal sponsors and supporters for getting this one over the line.”

Gill, who resides in the Finnish village of Vääksy when out of Australia, is familiar with the roads, but perhaps not nearly as well as the seven locals in the WRC2 field, including Toyota Gazoo Racing team boss and 13-time WRC rally winner, Jari-Matti Latvala.

Many of his competitors have done the event almost 10 times, so Gill is behind the eight-ball in terms of experience, but a strong preparation should help to bridge some of that gap.

“We’ve taken a liking to the Finnish stages over the past two years in the Fiesta Rally3, so we take confidence from that, but tackling it in a faster Rally2 car will be a whole new ball game – we’ll have to step up.

“Yes, we’re lacking in experience, but at the end of the day we all have to write our pace notes and commit to them in the rally, and Dan and I are confident that our approach can give us the best chance to produce a good result."

Where the Aussies will land in a results sheet with such strong names is anyone’s guess. However, as normal, Gill is realistic about his goals for the weekend. 

“Having expectations at Rally Finland is tricky, especially in a WRC2 field of this calibre,” Gill added.

“Ideally, we want to be in and around the top five, but there’s arguably 15 or more drivers who could find themselves there. 

“We’ll be having a push for sure. The goal for this year has been to prove ourselves, and when we’re competing in a high-quality field like this, it’s a great chance to show what we’ve got.

“We’ll need to bring our ‘A’ game, but the competition is the reason we go rallying, and I can’t wait to get into the battle.”

Gill and Brkic start the famous Rally Finland as the 13th Rally2 car on the road, and will battle it out across 316 competitive kilometres.

It’s their third WRC start this season after successful outings in Sweden and Croatia earlier in the year.

Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic’s 2026 WRC program is supported by: Ferratum, PowerPlay, Accent Benchtops, FlowTech Australia, Hissi Keskus, Premier Pools, WOLF Sports, Dogbox Oy, Lithiumax, RallySchool Australia, Curiositi, The Oil Warehouse, M31 Consulting, Punkahajun Kilpi Oy, RallySport Magazine, and Ice Cube