WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

news

Lindholm heads to WRC Rally Estonia with a new Škoda

14 July 2021

Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen, who are driving Toksport WRT's Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo in the WRC3-class, will start the World Rally Championship Estonia on Thursday with confident minds. The test day preparing for the rally was driven on Monday in Estonia and everything looks good for the upcoming event.

Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen, who are driving Toksport WRT’s Škoda, will participate in the second ever World Rally Championship Estonia, for the first time. Three years ago Lindholm was seen at the Tallinn Rally in Estonia, in which the Finnish driver finished third in the overall competition.

”We had good test and everything is well. The test road was a high-speed road with a quite hard surface. There will also be much softer dirt roads ahead of us on the route and we have prepared for those sections. We have a good feeling about this rally”, said Lindholm, who was reached from the recce.

Lindholm will start the weekend's WRC event with a completely new car.

“Our team renewed all of their cars for this rally. With the adjustments of our car we go close to the adjustments used in Finland, even though the Rally Estonia has different roads. The route is really fast but the roads are driven in sandier surfaces. We have a hot rally coming up: it is 32-Celsius degrees now, but for the weekend the prediction is a little bit cooler”, Lindholm tells.

Lindholm says fast-paced crossings are challenging to drive and those few jumps can be quite unnatural and surprising.

“Here in the tests, right from the first drive, the trust for my car and my own driving was good. There was no need to start guessing how the car goes to the turns. My car was good in the tests right from the start and of course that is always a good sign”, Lindholm tells.

Lindholm's goal is to drive a full rally and get a result that puts them to the podium. The Finnish duo will start as the twenty-fourth car on the route with start number 34.

“I’ve had a good feeling after winning the Seinäjoki Finnish Rally Championships event and I think driving my own good result from start to finish is enough to fight for the Top 3 position. And of course I want a good result for our team as well”.

“The upcoming rally requires extreme concentration, careful reading of the road, a bit of luck and quick response, especially on the second run of the special stages when there may be surprising grooves or mounds with sharp rocks at the bottom. Getting through these spots are the challenge of this rally”, Lindholm says.

The World Rally Championship Rally Estonia starts on Thursday night with a parkland stage next to the service park in Tartu (1.64 km). On Friday the program will have eight special stages with a total length of 128.24 km. The rally will continue on Saturday with nine special stages (132.18 km) and will end on Sunday after six special stages (52.10 km) at 15:20 in Tartu service park.