Sweden provided ERC redemption for Heikkilä

Mikko Heikkilä has won the ERC Royal Rally of Scandinavia. The win marks the first international level victory for Heikkilä – a feat that, whilst been close multiple times, has evaded the Finn until now.

Finnish rally driver Mikko Heikkilä and co-driver Kristian Temonen have won the ERC Royal Rally of Scandinavia held in Karlstad, Sweden. The TGS Motorsport Skoda pair won the nail-biting event with a margin of 15,7 seconds. The win marks Heikkilä’s long-awaited first international victory.

- I’m happy but most of all relieved. We’ve been hunting this for a long time, and been so close multiple times, and now it’s finally a reality. At the same time, I’m sorry for Teemu (Suninen) and Jaspar (Vaher) for what happened to them, Heikkilä said.

- Of course, it’s an amazing feeling to win in ERC for the first time, and especially with such a high level of competition – the starting list was quite tough. It’s also nice to see that my performance is consistent, especially on Sunday, and the pace is on a level required here, the Finn continued.

After Saturday, Heikkilä felt that the pause in competitive driving was affecting the Finn, and set out for a mistake-free, consistent run on Sunday. The strategy held, and the Skoda-driver won four out of eight stages on the final day, chipping away the gap in front and inheriting the lead after the penultimate stage. The consistent drive was rewarded with an ERC win – a feat that had evaded the Finn for a long time.

- The pause in driving was noticeable yesterday, but it wasn’t so bad today. A few slides here and there and a too careful note in one spot were the main concerns today. Small things, but when you’re pushing all the way from start to finish and fighting for every single tenth of a second, small things become decisive, Heikkilä said.

The goal for the Finn was to gain boost for the summer season. The goal materialized, and the result will carry on to next events.

- The feeling is great to head to the next event, at latest WRC Estonia. We’ll continue working hard and see what other events there might be in our calendar. For sure, the feeling is much more positive heading to our next rally. A massive thank you to our cooperation partners, co-driver Kristian, the TGS team, my race engineer, Skoda Motorsport for the winning car and Pirelli for the excellent tires. Also a big thank you to everyone who’s been along this journey and supported us.

The long event in Sweden, starting from the pre-event tests and recce and ending to the finish line after Sunday’s almost 100 kilometres of running, was rewarded in the best possible way. Bigger celebrations will have to wait – for now.

- We’ll head towards the harbour this evening and board the ship in the morning. I have a feeling that I’ll be sleeping quite well after today.

ERC Royal Rally of Scandinavia results:

1. Mikko Heikkilä         1:31:07.8      FIN        Skoda Fabia RS Rally2

2. Martins Sesks            +15.7           LAT        Skoda Fabia RS Rally2

3. Isak Reiersen             +31.4          SWE      Skoda Fabia RS Rally2

4. Calle Carlberg           +47.2           SWE      Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

5. Patrik Hallberg           +1:22.2       SWE      Toyota GR Yaris Rally2