Competing in the WRC2 category, Lindholm fell ill with a stomach bug just before the rally’s reconnaissance. The illness sapped the Finnish driver’s energy, but despite this, he decided to participate in the competition.
“I have to say, Tuesday was pretty harsh. I hardly slept at night, spending time ‘by the bowl’,” Lindholm recounted.
“Then there was also a fever, but fortunately Reeta drove the transitions during the recce, and I was able to sleep beside her. I can honestly say the pace notes weren’t great,” Lindholm chuckled to RallyJournal.com after Friday’s special stages.
Lindholm also had a dismal start to the competition when he and his co-driver Reeta Hämäläinen had to change a tyre right on the first special stage.
The driving performances did not improve much either, as by the end of Friday, he was only eighth in his class, trailing the leader by four and a half minutes.
“Now I’ve been able to eat, so I’m more or less steady and awake. But I knew from the morning that it wasn’t going to be a good day for driving. This is the kind of race where you have to constantly adapt and read the road. It’s not easy,” Lindholm summarized.
Lindholm mentioned that after the Central European WRC event last autumn, he had hoped to achieve a solid result in the Croatian tarmac rally. However, his illness prevented this from happening.
“I believe it doesn’t get any worse than this,” Lindholm laughed at his own situation.
“There were still a few surprisingly good individual performances out there. I don’t know where they come from sometimes. But then reality quickly brings you back down to earth.”
