After finishing second in the previous round in Sweden, Heikkilä is aiming to build on his first podium finish of the season in the ERC.
The driver from Finland, competing in an Italian Step Five Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car, last raced in Estonia in 2021 when the rally was part of the WRC calendar. However, the rally held in the Otepää region significantly differs from the WRC event three years ago, where Heikkilä finished third in the WRC3 class.
“The stages shouldn’t be too similar to those in -21, although I’d probably have a hard time remembering them and there really isn’t any reason to remember that event. According to reconnaissance videos the stages will have everything – faster and slower sections, and wider and narrower roads. We’ll see the route better as a whole only after recce, but the stages look very enjoyable,” Heikkilä explains.
“The level of competition has always been high here, with both ERC regulars and local drivers alike. It doesn’t really affect our performance however and it’s only positive to have many drivers on the grid.”
The Swedish ERC rally, held the week before Midsummer, was nearly trouble-free for Heikkilä and his co-driver Kristian Temonen, and the car suited the Toyota driver perfectly. The purpose of the tests before the Estonian round was to fine-tune certain aspects for the local conditions.
“Stages here should fit us and the car well. Our aim is to further improve on some details that we identified in Sweden. There should not be any major changes however, just some slight setup changes to accommodate the different gravel and road textures and likely deeper ruts,” Heikkilä analyses.
During the competition week, the next two rounds of Heikkilä’s calendar were also confirmed, as he will participate in both the Latvian and Finnish WRC rounds.
“I’m really happy that we get to drive both Latvian and Finnish rounds of WRC, and a big thank you for that to our cooperation partners. I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be any troubles and we get to drive all three events. This does not mean that we’d be going to Estonia to save anything, it’s flat out from the start. I don’t see the point of going to a rally if the goal is not flat-out,” Heikkilä promises.
The Estonian ERC rally will be held from 5th to 7th July. The competition includes 14 special stages and 188 special stage kilometres.
