Saku Purtilo confirmed for World Championship by FIM

For a while it has been known that 16 years old Saku Purtilo from Finland aiming for his first season in the World Championship and now he has been confirmed and approved as participant in the serie which gather the best of the best riders.

For us in the Nordic regions of Europe Saku Purtilo is well known nowdays. Its not that long time ago we all where waiting for him to be able to ride with the seniors though his rocket fast development was promising a good career ahead. Last year 2024, was his first season as a senior and he proved what we all suspected; He is going to be fast and good.

2024 was also a very good year for this young rider and he was in top in almost all series he entered. Good and solid results in our own region as well as Netherlands, Germany and Czech Rebuplic who also has some of the top World Championship riders in their leauge. Coming from Finland where speed seems to be a birthright or a genetic heritage, former two time World Champion Lasse Kurvinen has been a part of Saku Purtilos career start, but this winter the Burt Racing team and Saku made a five weeks trip to Roccos Ranch in Barcelona to get properly prepared for the season. Since lots of top riders doing the same, Roccos is the best place to get some serious top quality practice before season opens up.

Due to some heavy raining in Spain the team ended Spain earlier than planned and went to Germany for more practice and ended the trip with a first race start in Czech Republic.

A good warm-up to the season opener of the FIM world Championship starting May 25 in Terenzani Italy.

Even though Purtilo is only 16 years old he seems to stand steady and comments the WC participation with;

– It feels really good, this has been the first goal, he says.

– It’s his first season at World Championship level, so we’re going to get experience. It’s going to be a challenging season, we know that. Let’s do a solid season, learn things and develop throughout the season. The goal is to ride a season that leads to an upswing. That’s enough of a goal for a teenager, team manager (and father) JP Purtilo adds.

But no questions asked about how serious Purtilo is. We all know that this is a very demanding challenge and Purtilo has not only tried to get his gear in order, with lots of work put into getting the perfect set up, he also spends 4-5 days a week training physics at a gym to be in as good shape as possible standing on the starting line in May.

I think we all agree about all fingers crossed for this young rider representing his country and in a way the whole Nordic region in the upcoming championship.

We all belive in you Saku – go and get them!

* Saku Purtilo is also confirmed for Viking Cup rounds but time will tell if he, due to WC participation, can do the full cup this year.

Wanna learn more about Saku Purtilo please visit our Youtube channel where we made an interview with him only 14 years old during a race in Neatherlands 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs1MPxJMRl8

Wanna follow Saku during the season visit and follow his Instagram and also Fim Flat Track where you find Calender, news and also FIM Flat Track TV