Mikko Heikkilä is running tenth in WRC3-category in the WRC RallyRACC Rally de Espana. Heikkilä’s debut day on tarmac was hindered a little by a puncture on special stage five. Heikkilä is determined to gain back time on the second day of the event.
Mikko Heikkilä, 29, along with his co-driver Topi Luhtinen, 26, are running tenth in WRC3-category in the WRC RallyRACC Rally de Espana. Heikkilä’s debut on tarmac was hampered by a puncture on special stage five. There are still two days left containing a total of 11 special stages.
Heikkilä began the RACC Rally de Espana with an eight fastest time for special stage one. On the second stage of the day Heikkilä was sixth fastest. Heikkilä ended the morning’s leg with a fourth fastest time on SS3 and with a sixth place in WRC3.
-It felt decent. The first stage went well according to the split times until my spin, where we lost ten to fifteen seconds. We’ll put that one on learning. The gap to class and R5 leaders is a bit smaller than I expected beforehand. We don’t have any huge expectations with our results, the most important part is to improve on tarmac.
The afternoon leg contained the morning’s three stages driven for the second time. On special stage four Heikkilä was seventh fastest, but the puncture on the next stage dropped Heikkilä down to tenth in category. Heikkilä was seventh in the finishing stage of the day.
-The puncture on the SS5 was not a good end for the otherwise decent day. Right at the beginning of the stage on a right turn there was a bit of gravel on the road, and we went wide due to it. The rear wheel hit a curb and the impact broke the rear left rim. It took us a while to change the tire, and we were left behind a fellow competitor in the dust. These things happen in rallying. The other stages of the leg were clean, and we had a decent rhythm.
Heikkilä, who starts the second day of RallyRACC Rally de Espana from tenth in WRC3 is looking to learn and improve. A couple of setup changes are also on cards for the Finnish driver’s Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
-We’ll try to find a few small setup changes for the car for it to be more to my liking. We have a few ideas for tomorrow. We’ll try to focus on our own rally and keep improving the times stage by stage. Of course, there’s a bit to improve in the driver, but that’s why we are here after all. We’ll keep pushing.
RallyRACC continues on Saturday 16th of October with seven special stages and 117,54 special stage kilometres.
Overall results in WRC3 after 6/17 stages:
| 1. | Emil Lindholm | 1:05:22,8 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | FIN | |
| 2. | Pepe Lopez | 1:05:37,7 | +14,9 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | ESP |
| 3. | Kajetan Kajetanowicz | 1:05:38,0 | +15,2 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | POL |
| 4. | Chris Ingram | 1:06:03,4 | +40,6 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | GBR |
| 5. | Jan Solans | 1:06:22,2 | +59,4 | Citroen C3 Rally2 | ESP |
| 10. | Mikko Heikkilä | 1:09:19,9 | +3:57,1 | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | FIN |
Words: Juho Koski / Mikko Heikkilä Racing