It emerged back in December that Mäkinen was planning to take part in the Mikkeli Rally as a so-called zero car, running through the special stages ahead of the competition. However, the event organisers announced on Tuesday evening that Mäkinen has now been forced to cancel his appearance.
“The car wasn’t in a condition where I could have gone out to drive it. The suspension had to be sent to France for servicing, and I wouldn’t have had time to test the car with the new suspension,” Mäkinen explained.
Mäkinen had planned to tackle the stages in a Toyota Yaris WRC built in Puuppola, a car that once served as the test vehicle for Toyota’s WRC team during his time as team principal. He drove the car on an ice track last winter, and the idea of bringing the machine out at an FRC round gradually began to take shape.
Now, however, Mäkinen will not be able to entertain Finnish rally fans with the powerful car.
Mäkinen admits that he should have checked the condition of the car earlier.
“In terms of the schedule, it was my own carelessness that meant I didn’t manage to get everything sorted in time. This is a really disappointing situation,” Mäkinen said apologetically.
A total of seven special stages will be contested on Saturday at the Mikkeli Rally. The pre-event favourite is last year’s champion Esapekka Lappi, who will be challenged by drivers including Lauri Joona.
