Mikko Heikkilä, 30, along with his co-driver Samu Vaaleri, 24, are competing in the third round of the WRC championship, WRC Croatia Rally. The tarmac rally, featured for the second time in WRC calendar, is Heikkilä’s second tarmac rally at world championship level. Lessons learned in last year’s RallyRACC in Spain will be used in the flowing stages of Croatia.
-First and foremost, a massive thank you to all our cooperation partners for the chance to drive in WRC again. We learned tarmac driving in Spain, and it felt pleasant and even natural, even though we still have much to learn. The main thing that stuck with us was that we wanted to drive more on tarmac and it’s finally coming together. It feels great to be here.
The special stages in Croatia are different to those in Spain. The diversity of the stages in the upcoming event is to Heikkilä’s liking.
-In Spain we had more twisty roads than here. It’s a mixture of many kinds of roads, sometimes smaller and sometimes bigger, but not only going around mountains. Pacenotes must be even more on point here than usual as the speeds are high and roads are extremely precise. It’s hard to say which works better for us.
Last year’s Finnish Rally Championship runner-up started preparations on the spot with testing on Monday. Heikkilä also got to grips with his Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo on tarmac between the FRC events.
-We did some testing on Monday and the main thing we learned was that the roads are quite slippery. Our testing road is a bit different from the stages driven during the rally, so it was mainly getting in touch with the surface. We did have some fun driving around a track in Vantaa a week before.
WRC Croatia Rally is held from 21st to 24th of April. The event consists of 20 special stages and 291,84 special stage kilometres. The rally begins of Friday 22nd at 8:33 AM and ends on Sunday 24th at 3:30 PM.
WRC Croatia Rally Schedule
Friday 22.4.:
| 08:33 | SS1 – Mali Lipovec – Grdanjci 1 | 19,20 km |
| 09:26 | SS2 – Gornja Vas 1 | 20,77 km |
| 10:19 | SS3 – Krasic – Vrskovac 1 | 11,11 km |
| 11:32 | SS4 – Pećurkovo brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 1 | 9,11 km |
| 15:05 | SS5 – Mali Lipovec – Grdanjci 2 | 19,20 km |
| 15:58 | SS6 – Gornja Vas 2 | 20,77 km |
| 16:51 | SS7 – Krasic – Vrskovac 2 | 11,11 km |
| 18:04 | SS8 – Pećurkovo brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 2 | 9,11 km |
Saturday 23.4.:
| 07:43 | SS9 – Kostanjevac – Petuš Vrh 1 | 23,76 km |
| 08:41 | SS10 – Jaškovo – Mali Modruš Potok 1 | 10,10 km |
| 10:09 | SS11 – Platak 1 | 15,85 km |
| 11:38 | SS12 – Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 1 | 8,78 km |
| 15:16 | SS13 – Kostanjevac – Petruš Vrh 2 | 23,76 km |
| 16:14 | SS14 – Jaškovo – Mali Modruš Potok 2 | 10,10 km |
| 17:42 | SS15 – Platak 2 | 15,85 km |
| 19:08 | SS16 – Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 2 | 8,78 km |
Sunday 24.4.:
| 07:18 | SS17 – Trakošćan – Vrbno 1 | 13,15 km |
| 08:38 | SS18 – Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 1 | 14,09 km |
| 10:26 | SS19 – Trakošćan – Vrbno 2 | 13,15 km |
| 13:18 | SS20 – Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 2 (Power Stage) | 14,09 km |
| 15:30 | Podium – Zagreb |
Words: Juho Koski / Mikko Heikkilä Racing