Heikkilä and his co-driver Kristian Temonen clinched the win in the San Marino Rally, part of the Italian gravel rally championship. The Finnish driver secured first place with a margin of 16.4 seconds ahead of Italian Tommaso Ciuffi.
The competition consisted of nine special stages, with Heikkilä setting the fastest time on four of them in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, run by the Italian team Step Five Motorsport.
“This was a good way to spend Midsummer. The driving was not at its best at any point, but it was enough for the win, which is of course great,” Heikkilä rejoiced.
“Since this is not our main series, we didn’t push to the extreme. The Italian series has been tough in the last two rounds, so it’s nice to have this result.”
San Marino’s gravel roads provided Heikkilä with valuable experience of local conditions. According to Heikkilä, he found well-functioning settings for his car.
“The route was wonderful, with quite slow and technical roads, but it’s good practice to drive such stages. It was surprisingly slippery, even though the roads were clearing, they remained slippery and somewhat unpredictable all the time. But overall, it was a great trip and good learning experience on this type of road.”
Heikkilä moved up to second place in the Italian gravel rally championship standings. Ciuffi leads the series with a three-point advantage over the Finn. There are still two rounds remaining in the series, so Heikkilä has a chance at the championship if he competes in the final rounds in the autumn.
Next, Heikkilä will compete in the European Rally Championship in Estonia from July 5th to 7th.
