The Cloud came over early in the first qualifying round and didn't look promising at all. Around heat 9 of the first round the rain started to slowly fall - not affecting things much but stopping the track from properly drying out. And this was the way things went all day - with a scant few minutes of sun toward the end of qualifying but the track remained damp and traction fairly low.

Neil Cragg took the first qualifying round ahead of Hupo Honigl two seconds further back. Lee Martin had a quicker lap than these two but was four seconds further back in third.

ALKO is the Finnish state-owned off-licence (alcohol shop) and has a monopoly on selling all alcoholic drinks above 4.7% ABV. So whilst you can find beer in the local super markets, Vodka and similar are simply not available. Finland has some strict drinking laws which I can't pretend to know all about - but one thing we found was that Vodka was impossible to find in Finland.
Drinks over here in Finland seem a little expensive, especially in the Hotel bar - so we went in search of an ALKO during the break in racing. The Alko in Vaasa is hidden down a back street which initially gave the impression that this was a sordid affair which we should be ashamed of. When we found ALKO it was actually a really nice clean shop in a little arcade of small shops. Inside was a wide array of every sort of alcoholic beverage you can think of - along with a mandatory (under law) small range of low alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks.

The range of Vodkas on offer was huge but we went for a classic bottle of Finlandia, since this is Finland after all, it would be rude not to.

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My 'Tip Off' was right (thanks Lee) and Scotty Ernst turned up toward the end of the second day of 2WD and will be commentating tomorrow, wednesday, in time for the finals.

The commentating that Scotty does really adds to the driving experience and makes the event a lot more professional and entertaining. After last years European Championships in Austria, where Scotty did his thing - a lot of people came away hugely impressed with his style of commentating.

Scotty is also a good racer and borrowed Neil Round's Associated B4 for a thrash around the track - the verdict? He wishes this track was back home in the USA!

Neil Cragg went on to win the next two qualifiers - taking all three qualifying legs today almost guarentees him pole in the A main. The positions are calculated on the best two round scores from the five qualifiers - so with the final two qualifying rounds tomorrow it's still possible for someone else to sneak past with the same score but faster times than Neil - but not likely given Neils form at the moment.

Hupo Honigl and Lee Martin are looking good also and should be near the front of the grid come wednesdays finals.