We are all taught to believe that bad luck will eventually repay itself in life. But if I were Mikko Heikkilä, I think I’d have started to lose faith.
It all started with that devastating powerstage puncture on Rally Serras de Fafe last year. Hayden Paddon was closing fast and could well have usurped Heikkilä, but the Finn was on for second in the ERC season-opener at a bare minimum, against a mega field, before his flat dumped him to eighth.
At the time, Heikkilä put on a brave face – surely this will all turn around? Unfortunately, his next six rallies were, in the Finn’s words, a “disaster”, and he cut his 2023 season short after a devastating Rally Finland where his gear stick broke on the event’s very first acceleration.
A new car and a new co-driver represented a new dawn for Heikkilä in 2024 – except it didn’t.
He lost a wheel while leading the ERC’s first round in Hungary, despite feeling he hadn’t hit anything, and was then dumped out of the podium battle in Estonia with a mechanical problem.
Heikkilä led ERC opener - until a wheel fell off
Was the 32-year-old destined to be deserted by good fortune?
“Yeah, for sure we have had some bad or unlucky times behind us, and I really, really hope that those times are behind,” Heikkilä told DirtFish.
“But of course, luck is always like a funny topic to speak [about]. Many things are affecting luck – it’s about your decisions, your behavior, it’s a bit of a mix of everything you are doing so you need to a bit deserve the luck.
“So you need to make the correct choices like this, but I really hope that the…,” the Finn nervously laughs, “bad luck is behind us.
“I think every driver will have some difficult times at some point in their career, and I had it now last two years, so hopefully it’s behind us and we can do maximum always.”
Mechanical drama prevented Estonia podium challenge
Heikkilä’s bad fortune may finally be in the rear-view mirror, certainly if last weekend’s Rally Latvia is anything to go by. Everything held together, nothing went wrong, and he finally got the big-ticket result his talent has clearly always been capable of: second in WRC2.
But spoken like a true rally driver, still that didn’t completely satisfy him.
“Yeah, for sure I’m happy for the rally, but of course it was not perfect because we didn’t win!” Heikkilä pointed out.
“Even if you win, I think you always have something to improve because it’s pretty tough to do 300km without any single small mistake! So of course I always want to see there is something to improve; I don’t believe anybody would be perfect.
“At least, if I start to feel like I am starting to do something a perfect way then I need to stop because that’s a big lie. So, yeah, for sure I’m very happy for the weekend after all the difficult events that we have had, but it wasn’t perfect yet.”
Heikkilä finally had something to celebrate with WRC2 podium in Latvia
Latvia at least met two of his pre-event expectations: to get a first WRC2 podium, and be the fastest Rally2 Toyota.
“The first target [to win], we couldn’t do it,” Heikkilä said. “Hats off and big respect for Oliver [Solberg] – he is doing very well and so fast and nice guy – nothing to say for that, only taking my hat off.”
“But second target, we were able to do and I’m very happy for that.”
Through his punishing spell, Heikkilä never lost belief in himself. He knew he was ultimately capable of achieving these headline-grabbing results, one factor or another had just blocked it from happening.
But it’s worth taking a moment to consider the quality of the job Heikkilä did last weekend. He beat Sami Pajari – a Junior WRC champion and WRC2 winner deemed worthy of a Rally1 chance by Toyota next week – on merit with the same car and the same tires.
Toyota's top dog in WRC2 on Rally Latvia
Heikkilä himself says he is “not so interested about the names” he beats: “I’m just trying to always get the maximum from myself and get the maximum result.” But besting drivers like Pajari does nothing to harm Heikkilä’s stock.
At 32, it’s unlikely that the Finn is going to propel himself into the conversation for any chances at the highest level, but more WRC2 outings are the target.
Currently, Heikkilä’s program is empty after Rally Finland, but what better way to prove his salt than grab a win at home? Of course, he feels he can do just that.
“Yes!” he laughed. “But it’s very easy to say here sat on my home sofa!
“For sure, for the Finnish people it’s the most famous one and everybody wants to do that event,” he added. “So it’s nice to go to the stages of Rally Finland and see all the fans and friends and everybody who are on the stages spectating the rally.
Now Heikkilä is targeting a maiden WRC2 victory on home event
“And about this event by itself, it will be nice to again have a maximum performance from myself and [I’m] really looking forward to start the fight with the guys.
“But the level will be, I would say, even higher than in Latvia because there are like 40 or something Rally2 cars on the Finland start-line so it will be again a different story and we need to start from the beginning again.
“[After that] I think we are not able to do any big events, ERC or WRC events. I’m afraid we don’t have any chance to do anything after Rally Finland.
“But of course, let’s see – rally is full of surprises and if you are making good results you never know what will happen.”
Heikkilä, more than most, knows that to be very true indeed.
