Mikko Heikkilä begins his competitive rally season of 2025 from Rally Sweden this weekend. Competing in the highly-competitive WRC2 category, the Finn is looking for a solid start to his season with his old team, TGS Motorsport.
Finnish rally driver Mikko Heikkilä is geared up for his first full season in the highly competitive WRC2 category this weekend at the 72. Rally Sweden. Together with his co-driver Kristian Temonen and the Finnish TGS Motorsport team, the team Heikkilä won his Finnish championship back in 2022 with, are tackling the rally with the teaching gathered last year at the WRC Sweden. Last year, Heikkilä placed fifth in WRC2, and this year the Skoda returnee is aiming to improve upon last year.
-The atmosphere is expectant, and it’s nice to be back in Sweden. Our pre-event tests were good, and the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 felt like home quite quickly. It was nice to be able to drive together with the TGS team after a while, and I feel like the team is equally enthusiastic as I am about this project, Heikkilä smiled.
The four-day rally begins on Thursday and is consisted over 300,22 special stage kilometres. The route, located near the city of Umeå, is partly familiar to Heikkilä, with new stages and sections mixed in.
-The route left a good impression based on the stage videos by the organisers and our first day of recce on Tuesday. There are a few new stages for us, but quite a lot is familiar from last year. The new stages look interesting and I’m especially looking forward to them, Heikkilä stated.
Heikkilä, starting with number 25 on his Skoda, is gearing up for a full WRC2 season consisting of six point-scoring rounds. Despite aiming for high results in the point standings, there won’t be too much space for tactics during the event.
-Of course, we are driving for both good individual results and decent amount of championship points. We must keep the points in mind because of the championship of course, but I’m at least equally keen to show my pace here, if not more. In the end, they go hand in hand: the ones who keep the pedal to the medal and push hardest tend to gather the most points, so we won’t be holding back at all, Heikkilä said.
72. Rally Sweden is held in Umeå, Sweden, from 13th to 16th of February. The rally consists of 17 special stages and 300,22 special stage kilometres. The rally is shown live in the Rally.tv streaming service.
72. Rally Sweden itinerary (local time GMT+1)
Thursday 13.2. – 5,16 km
09:01 Shakedown – Umeå City 3,44 km
18:40 Start – Red Barn Arena
19:05 SS1 – Umeå Sprint 1 5,16 km
Friday 14.2. – 124,32 km
09:18 SS2 – Bygdsiljum 1 28,27 km
10:19 SS3 – Andersvattnet 1 20,51 km
11:27 SS4 – Bäck 1 10,80 km
14:48 SS5 – Bygdsiljum 2 28,27 km
15:49 SS6 – Andersvattnet 2 20,51 km
16:57 SS7 – Bäck 2 10,80 km
19:05 SS8 – Umeå Sprint 2 5,16 km
Saturday 15.2. – 101,96 km
09:10 SS9 – Vännäs 1 15,65 km
10:56 SS10 – Sarjöliden 1 14,23 km
11:08 SS11 – Kolksele 1 16,06 km
14:10 SS12 – Vännäs 2 15,65 km
15:05 SS13 – Sarjöliden 2 14,23 km
16:08 SS14 – Kolksele 2 16,06 km
18:05 SS15 – Umeå 1 10,08 km
Sunday 16.2. – 68,78 km
07:27 SS16 – Västervik 1 29,35 km
09:57 SS17 – Västervik 2 29,35 km
12:15 SS18 – Umeå 2 10,08 km
Comments