Mikko Heikkilä is running fourth in WRC3 category after two days and eight special stages. There are two more stages to be driven on Sunday.
Heikkilä started Saturday’s six stages in fifth place in WRC3. On the first stage of the day SS3 – Mustalampi 1 Heikkilä drove the sixth fastest time.
-It didn’t feel very good. Driving felt decent at times, but the times don’t reflect that. It feels like I’m going faster, but I’m just not.
Heikkilä drove the third fastest time in SS4 – Kaihuavaara 1 and fourth fastest in SS5 – Siikakämä 1.
-It felt good in terms of the pace for the first time now. Still not quite there. We’ll just need to try to improve, Heikkilä summed up after special stage 5.
The second leg of Saturday consisted of the same stages as the first leg. Heikkilä drove the fifth fastest time for SS6 – Mustalampi 2 enjoying the beautiful winter roads of Lapland.
-It was quite heavily grooved now, and we lost a bit of time. Other than that I’m really enjoying driving here.
-For the special stage 7 – Kaihuavaara 2 Heikkilä drove the second fastest time, only 0,2 seconds behind the fastest time.
-It’s a great stage and a great day and we succeeded here. Even the grooves weren’t an issue.
For the last stage of the day SS8 – Siikakämä 2 Heikkilä drove the third fastest time. Heikkilä is fourth in class, only 1,4 seconds behind the third place driver Eerik Pietarinen. The same stage, Aittajärvi, will be driven twice on Sunday.
-This leg went a bit better than in the morning, but I’m still feeling slightly disappointed. We didn’t have a good visibility now in Siikakämä due to heavy snowing. On Sunday we’ll be driving hard with Pietarinen and we’ll continue precisely to the finish.
The last stage of the event, Sunday 28th of February, two stages and a total of 44,94 special stage kilometres will be driven. The first stage is live at 10:08.
Friday’s results WRC3:
| Emil Lindholm | 16:50.4 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | |
| Teemu Asunmaa | 16:56.8 | +6.4 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 17:03.2 | +12,8 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Egon Kaur | 17:03.8 | +13.4 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 17:09.9 | +19.5 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 17:10.3 | +19.9 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
SS2: Sarriojärvi 2 – 31,05 km
| Emil Lindholm | 16:48.5 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | |
| Teemu Asunmaa | 16:53.0 | +4.5 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Egon Kaur | 16:56.4 | +7.9 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 17:02.3 | +13.8 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 17:03.9 | +15.4 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 17:12.5 | +24.0 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
Saturday’s results WRC3:
SS3: Mustalampi 1 – 24,43 km
| Egon Kaur | 14:44.0 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | |
| Emil Lindholm | 14:45.6 | +1.6 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Teemu Asunmaa | 14:46.7 | +2.7 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Mattias Ekström | 14:51.0 | +7.0 | SWE | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 14:58.9 | +14.9 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 15:00.2 | +16.2 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
SS4: Kaihuavaara 1 – 19,91 km
| Teemu Asunmaa | 9:47.4 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | |
| Egon Kaur | 9:48.9 | +1.5 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 9:58.1 | +10.7 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 9:58.1 | +10.7 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
| Mattias Ekström | 10:04.7 | +17.3 | SWE | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Gregor Jeets | 10:29.2 | +41.8 | EST | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
SS5: Siikakämä 1 – 27,68 km
| Egon Kaur | 13:17.5 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | |
| Teemu Asunmaa | 13:24.7 | +7.2 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 13:33.1 | +15.6 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 13:41.1 | +23.6 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Mattias Ekström | 13:43.4 | +25.9 | SWE | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 13:47.6 | +30.1 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
SS6: Mustalampi 2 – 24,43 km
| Teemu Asunmaa | 14:38.6 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | |
| Egon Kaur | 14:48.0 | +9.4 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mattias Ekström | 14:49.5 | +10.9 | SWE | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 14:51.7 | +13.1 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 14:53.9 | +15.3 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 14:54.5 | +15.9 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
SS7: Kaihuavaara 2 – 19,91 km
| Teemu Asunmaa | 9:51.3 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 9:51.5 | +0.2 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Egon Kaur | 9:53.6 | +2.3 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 9:57.1 | +5.8 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 10:01.5 | +10.2 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
| Mattias Ekström | 10:04.1 | +12.8 | SWE | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
SS8: Siikakämä 2 – 27,68 km
| Egon Kaur | 13:39.5 | EST | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | |
| Eerik Pietarinen | 13:48.9 | +9.4 | FIN | Skoda Fabia R5 |
| Mikko Heikkilä | 13:50.0 | +10.5 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Teemu Asunmaa | 13:50.7 | +11.2 | FIN | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo |
| Johan Kristoffersson | 13:51.6 | +12.1 | SWE | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 |
Text: Juho Koski