Mikko Heikkilä competes in the Rally Ciudad de Granada as an invitational entry for the rally. Driving at the Spanish event for a third time, Heikkilä aims to defend his win from last year.
Mikko Heikkilä and co-driver Kristian Temonen are escaping the Finnish autumn to the sunshine of Spain, as the pair were invited to compete at the Rally Ciudad de Granada. Competing in the rally for the third time, the Finn returns to his old office for this event only.
-We couldn’t find time for testing, but the car is more than familiar to us. We’ve driven the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo in both Finland and all-around Europe. The team likely has a solid baseline setup, and I still remember a bit how I like the car to be. We’ll figure a good setup out on paper and see how it feels at the shakedown, Heikkilä explained.
The mountain roads near Grenada were to Heikkilä’s liking as the Finn won the event last year. The rougher road surface is welcomed by the former Finnish champion.
-We have some narrow and slower sections, but it’s overall a good mixture of speed and technicality. Of course, it’ll be a bit rougher than what we’re used to, but we should have a good pace there too. The speciality comes for the reconnaissance, as the stages are allowed to drive through only once without the possibility of checking your notes. It’s something we’re not used to, apart from last year of course, Heikkilä said.
Surprisingly, the rally is set to be a showdown between Heikkilä and one of his main rivals in ERC in the past.
-We won the rally last year, and we are aiming to do so this year as well. This year we have Martins Sesks competing with a Rally2 car and we’ve had some tight battles before. Also, Thierry Neuville is competing with Rally1 machinery, so an outright win isn’t quite realistic.
-It’s a great feeling to have an invitation for such an event, especially so as the Rally Ciudad de Granada has always been organised very well and there’s a lot of spectators here. A big thanks for the organisers of the rally for inviting us, Heikkilä thanked.
Rally Ciudad de Granada is held from 13th to 14th of September. The rally consists of 9 speical stages and a total of 101,92 special stage kilometres.
Rally Ciudad de Granada - itinerary
Friday 13.9.
20:30 Start
20:35 SS1 – 1,30 km
Saturday 14.9.
08:03 SS2 – 11,79 km
08:34 SS3 – 13,72 km
10:28 SS4 – 11,79 km
10:59 SS5 – 13,72 km
14:53 SS6 – 12,30 km
15:28 SS7 – 12,50 km
18:18 SS8 – 12,30 km
18:53 SS9 – 12,50 km
20:03 Finish
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