Mikko Heikkilä has finished fourth in the WRC2 category in his home WRC event, Secto Rally Finland. Despite a less-than-ideal event for the Finn, late charge on Sunday saw Heikkilä closing the gap to P3, missing out on podium by mere 2,6 seconds.
Mikko Heikkilä and co-driver Kristian Temonen have finished fourth in WRC2 at the Secto Rally Finland. Despite an overall challenging event, Heikkilä was in contention for podium for the whole rally but was left outside by just 2,6 seconds after over 300 special stage kilometres.
Heikkilä started the rally cautiously on the Harju city stage and set out for the forest stages in P8. Quickly climbing up the leaderboards, Heikkilä was fourth by the end of Friday within a striking distance of the podium.
- Driving felt fine to me and there weren’t too many places where I could have improved, of course some individual places but nowhere near as much as the stopwatch suggests, Heikkilä sighted at the end of the day.
Saturday the rally moved near the Jämsä region, where the legendary 32,98-kilometre Ouninpohja stage was held. Heikkilä stayed fourth in category, with a 10-second time penalty slowing the Toyota driver down.
-Västilä 1 was a good stage, and on the second pass the time was almost there as well. However, it feels like we've developed some issue with the car, it doesn’t perform as we’re used to, Heikkilä recapped his Saturday.
For Sunday, Heikkilä’s mission was to elevate himself up to P3 with a gap of 12,4 seconds to make out. Despite the monstrous efforts during the day’s four stages, including wins on both Laajavuori passes, the gap to podium was mere 2,6 seconds.
-Our rally did not go according to our expectations. Yesterday we had some issues with the rear differential, and it cost us time. Today I tried pushing as fast as I could, but we lost a bit too much time due to oil on our windshield and we had to settle for 4th. Our pace was good when we ran without troubles, and stage wins did not surprise me. I just wish we would have won a few more, Heikkilä said.
Secto Rally Finland concludes the busy span of three high-level Northern European rallies. Heikkilä wishes to extend his gratitude to his supporters.
-A massive thanks to all our cooperation partners for this opportunity. Also big thanks to Step Five Motorsport for their great work, and everyone cheering us at the stages.
Secto Rally Finland results – WRC2:
1. Oliver Solberg 2:33:57.4 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2
2. Jari-Matti Latvala +39.0 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
3. Lauri Joona +1:13.9 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2
4. Mikko Heikkilä +1:16.5 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
5. Georg Linnamäe +1:51.5 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
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