For the second time in a row Oliver Solberg took victory in his home rally, the Royal Rally of Scandinavia which is part of the ERC. Solberg, at the wheel of his “usual” Skoda, scored a total of 12 scratches out of 17 special stages held.
The New Zealander Hayden Paddon tried to put up a tenacious resistance, staying close behind, but was never able to truly threaten Solberg’s top position. In the end Paddon, due to a puncture on the final stage, the Power Stage, had to drop to third place, to the advantage of Mikko Heikkilä who finished on the second step of the podium.
Solberg struggled a bit on Friday to find the right settings for his car, but then found a gradually better rhythm and feeling. He commented Solberg at the end of the race:
“ It’s an incredible feeling. I had a lot of pressure during the race because I just wanted to win. However, I had a different car than last time. Today I felt good in the car, even if yesterday the feeling was the opposite. Today the car could have been much more suitable for specials. Yesterday I simply had no feeling with the car and the feeling was really terrible. We made changes to the car during the evening service park and it immediately went better.”
In the end, Solberg’s margin over second, Heikkilä, was 38 seconds. On the Värmland dirt stages the gaps in each special stage were really small. That’s why Solberg felt his win was special:
“ The fight in the ERC is extremely close and the competition is high. In every test we fought for tenths of a second. Especially on Friday, I felt that the level here was tougher than in WRC2. Completely crazy, but also a really nice feeling. Luckily on Saturday morning I managed to make a small difference, so the pressure eased a bit. It’s always nice to win at home.”
Heikkilä, second at the finish line, had started the race cautiously in the Super Special Stage on Thursday evening, setting a 16th fastest time. The excellent times achieved on Friday they brought the Toyota driver to third place and on Saturday the Finn consolidated his third place in an extremely balanced competition. However, in the Power Stage who concluded the rally, Hayden Paddon punctured, putting Heikkilä on the second step of the podium.
The first podium for the duo in the ERC with the Step Five Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, as well as first place in the European series for co-driver Temonen. He declared Mikko at the end of the race:
“ It was a really good rally. Everything was played out until the end. The team worked well, the car worked and the tires worked well. In the most competitive rally I took part in, the differences were zero or almost zero for the entire race, and you always had to give your best.”
Heikkiläwhich for this season has moved to Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, worked hard and successfully before the Swedish competition, and his hard work paid off. His eyes are already turned to the next races, because the Finnish driver’s competitive calendar includes, in addition to the Estonia Rallyvalid for the ERC, the WRC race in Finland. But before to go to Estonia there will be the fourth round of the CIRT, the San Marino Rally of next June 21-22. Heikkilä continued:
“ The car worked perfectly and I finally seemed to be able to do what I wanted. A big thank you to the Toyota engineers, but also to Step Five Motorsport and Michelin, everything went more than well and to all my partners for making all this possible. In three weeks, the European Championship will continue in Estonia and the objectives will be the same. Let’s try to reach the podium and as high as possible. In ERC the level is really high.”
Heikkilä also commented on the latest speciala drama for the leader of the ERC series, Mathieu Franceschiwho was fighting with him for third place and had an accident:
“ If I could decide, I would be third, I really don’t like last minute mishaps, for anyone. We feel sorry for Hayden and Mathieu. It wouldn’t have been a shame to be third behind Oliver, the host, and Hayden, both are really strong drivers.”
This one Final top 10 of the Royal Rally of Scandinavia:
For Italian colors very good ninth place finish for Andrea Mabellini, paired with Virginia Lenzi on Skoda Fabia RS, e sixteenth for Giacomo Costenaro-Pietro Ometto on another Czech car.
All withdrawnUnfortunately, the young standard bearers of ACI Team Italia: Geronimo Nerobutto stopped due to an accident on the second special stage, Davide Pesaventofor the same reason, stopped definitively on special number 14, after starting again with the Super Rally, Mattia Zanin he abandoned the race due to mechanical problems on the eleventh stage
