Heikkilä takes first ERC win in Royal Rally as Vaher, Suninen crash out of lead

Mikko Heikkilä has won Royal Rally of Scandinavia, taking his maiden ERC win, after a dramatic Sunday where two rally leaders crashed out.

Jaspar Vaher had led the Swedish gravel event following 11 action-packed stages, but a high-speed crash on stage 12 left his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 badly damaged and the 19-year-old Estonian firmly out of the lead fight. (Article continues after the post.)

Vaher’s unfortunate delay, the Junior ERC graduate had belied his lack of experience by leading from the opening super special until he hit trouble, left Teemu Suninen in front of Heikkilä by 4.8sec with four stages remaining.

The three-time FIA World Rally Championship podium finisher increased that gap to 5.4sec after he went 0.6sec quicker than his Finnish compatriot on SS13, the first stage after midday service.

Despite picking up right-rear tyre damage nearing the finish of SS14, Heikkilä was able to respond with the fastest time and narrow Suninen’s advantage to 2.8sec with two stages left to run.

Suninen off the road in penultimate stage

But Suninen appeared to have Heikkilä’s advances covered after he reached a timing split on SS15 faster than Heikkilä had managed, only for The Racing Factory driver to crash 1.8 kilometres from the finish of the penultimate stage, handing top spot to TGS Motorsport-run Heikkilä. (Article continues after the post.)

With Kristian Temonen co-driving, Heikkilä held on through the 7.91-kilometre Ölme Power Stage to give Finland its first ERC win since Roope Korhonen triumphed in Hungary last May.

“It’s pretty good to be honest,” said Heikkilä, who, like Suninen, was armed with a Pirelli-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. “We have been trying to get this for quite a long time. It’s been a long weekend, fighting, fighting to get the 10ths of a second and hard competing all the time. The result is this, actually this was the target, and we can be really happy now.”

For Heikkilä the victory, by a margin of 15.7sec, helped to banish the memories of his Power Stage heartbreak on the 2023 ERC season opener in Fafe when tyre damage denied him a seemingly certain maiden ERC win with the finish in sight. He was also leading in Hungary the following season before a broken wheel led to his early exit.

Sesks secures P2 ahead of Reiersen, late retirement for Hallberg

MRF-shod Mārtiņš Sesks edged Hankook-supplied home hero Isak Reiersen in the battle for what became second, which raged for much of the event. (Article continues after the photo.)

Reiersen had got the better of the FIA World Rally Championship stage winner on Sunday’s opening stage but couldn’t keep the Latvian driver behind as the day progressed, heavy contact with a rock on SS12 not helping the Swedish driver’s efforts.

Reigning Junior ERC champion Calle Carlberg beat his GK Door Team Sweden team-mate Patrik Hallberg to fourth place by 3.6sec after Hallberg completed the Power Stage with a flat tyre, ultimately forcing him to retire due to the fact he had already used his spare tyre.

Simone Tempestini headed 2025 BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia winner Eyvind Brynildsen in fifth place as Brynildsen blamed a mistake on Friday’s Qualifying Stage for his high and unfavourable road position on leg one. Brynildsen fought heroically, nevertheless, to come back from 22nd to sixth.

Michelin’s defending ERC champion Miko Marczyk was 20th after SSS1 but he battled his way to seventh place at the finish as Joosep Ralf Nõgene made up two places on the final two stages, demoting Fabrizio Zaldívar on the penultimate test before getting ahead of freestyle mountain bike star Brandon Semenuk on the Power Stage. Semenuk finished 9th with Zaldívar 10th.

Vatanen dominates in ERC3, drama in Junior ERC for long-time rally leader

In ERC3, Ville Vatanen took the win in his Ford Fiesta Rally3, leading from start to finish. Craig Rahill and Petr Kačírek completed the podium in both ERC3 and the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy.

Germany’s Timo Schulz won in Junior ERC and ERC4. Finnish driver Aatu Hakalehto had been leading the rally by over a minute before hitting a rock, which eventually caused a driveshaft to break on his Lancia, resulting in retirement. Schulz won in a factory Opel 1-2, with Tom Heindrichs in P2, ahead of Davide Pesavento.

Sixteen-year-old Swede Arvid Carlsson, driving under a Latvian license to compete at his age, finished in fourth ahead of Colin Dünker, who secured a P5 finish in the final stage with his Ford Fiesta Rally4 on only his second-ever gravel rally.

The ERC continues at the beginning of July, as the championship returns to tarmac at Italy’s Rally di Roma Capitale (03–05 July).

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#	Drivers	Car	Time / Diff. to 1st
1.	Heikkilä / Temonen	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	1:31:07.8
2.	Sesks / Francis	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	+15.7
3.	Reiersen / Gustafsson	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	+31.4
4.	Carlberg / Eriksen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+1:18.6
5.	Tempestini / Maior	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	+1:55.1
6.	Brynildsen / Fredriksson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+2:18.2
7.	Marczyk / Dymurski	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	+2:26.4
8.	Nõgene / Lesk	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+2:32.1
9.	Semenuk / Williams	Skoda Fabia RS Rally2	+2:33.2
10.	Zaldivar / Der Ohannesian	Skoda Fabia RS Rally2	+2:36.9

#	Driver	Points
1.	Jose Antonio Suárez	30
1.	Mikko Heikkilä	30
3.	Mārtiņš Sesks	28 (-2)
4.	Iván Ares	27 (-3)
5.	Teemu Suninen	23 (-7)
6.	Giandomenico Basso	22 (-8)
7.	Calle Carlberg	22 (-8)
8.	Isak Reiersen	21 (-9)
9.	Andrea Mabellini	20 (-10)
10.	Simone Tempestini	18 (-12)

Content, photo’s: Red Bull Content Pool