Heikkilä Looking To Build On Successful Test

Mikko Heikkilä competes in the third round of the ERC this weekend, the Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia. With successful preparations and testing, Heikkilä is ready to perform at his best in the highly competitive field.

Finnish rally driver Mikko Heikkilä and co-driver Kristian Temonen continue their competitive season with the third round of the European Rally Championship, Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia. Driving the Step Five Motorsport-prepared Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, Heikkilä sets out for his Swedish campaign after successful testing.

-We’ve off to a good start since our tests were successful. First, we drove a full day on Friday in Finland, and on Monday we finished up with smaller test session in Sweden. The car felt good in my hands and left us with a good feeling, Heikkilä said.

Heikkilä starred at the WRC Sweden earlier this year, finishing fifth in WRC2 category. This time mounting a challenge on the fast gravel roads around Karlstadt, Heikkilä recognises the similarities to the roads in Finland.

-Last year’s stages were quite close to Finnish roads in their profile, and this year we have a few same stages. There are a couple of completely new ones, and their character is seen only during recce. The roads are usually more slippery here than in Finland. We’ve had a short break of driving on roads such as these, almost a year, but I’m sure we’ll get the hang of things quickly, Heikkilä laughed.

The Finnish Rally Champion of 2022 was in contention for a podium in the last year’s event until the final day when a broken rim forced the Finn to change a wheel on the stage. This year, the goal is to compete at the top without any mistakes.

-The level of competition is very high here, and we have some of the fastest guys of Rally2 category here again. Our aim is to perform on our highest level, and if everything goes well, I’m sure we’ll be up there on the standings, Heikkilä stated.

ERC Royal Rally of Scandinavia is held in Karlstadt, Sweden from 13^th to 15^th of June. The event consists of 17 special stages and 191,05 special stage kilometres. The rally is shown live at Rally.tv streaming service.

Itinerary of Bauhaus Royal Rally Of Scandinavia

Thursday 13.5.

18:15     Ceremonial Start

20:05     SS1 Bauhaus                      2,23 km

Friday 14.5.

07:51     SS2 Grönlund 1                 10,18 km

08:37     SS3 Bomdestad 1             11,74 km

10:07     SS4 Colins 1                       6,43 km

10:51     SS5 Gårdsjö 1                    12,09 km

13:53     SS6 Grönlund 2                 10,18 km

14:39     SS7 Bondestad 2              11,74 km

16:09     SS8 Colins 2                       6,43 km

16:53     SS9 Gårdsjö 2                    12,09 km

Saturday 15.5.

07:42     SS10 Ölme 1                      5,83 km

08:27     SS11 Lungsund 1              20,20 km

09:17     SS12 Ängebäckstorp 1    14,76 km

10:05     SS13 Mölnbacka 1           13,18 km

12:49     SS14 Ölme 2                      5,83 km

13:34     SS15 Lungsund 2              20,20 km

14:24     SS16 Ängebäckstorp 2    14,76 km

16:05     SS17 Mölnbacka 2           13,18 km

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