Finn’s Polish anniversary

Away from the usual business of signing-on and scrutineering, it’s a relaxed Friday afternoon at Tor Słomczyn in Poland. Out on the track, circuit staff are applying the finishing touches; painting kerbs and whites lines, installing course markers. And in the paddock engineers are either doing likewise to their steeds, or, the job done, taking a break before the action starts tomorrow.

Along at Eklund Motorsport there is still work to be done to the Saab 93 driven by Toomas Heikkinen. Engine failure ended his run in last weekend’s Austrian event, a blown piston while strongly placed in the B final costing him a shot at the top six. It’s a year since the young Finn ventured outside of Scandinavia. During his successful Finnish championship campaign, Heikkinen made time to race in the Swedish and Finnish ERC rounds, and with the national title in his pocket rounded out the year in the Polish and Czech ERC rounds.

“I’m very pleased to be going back to tracks that I’ve raced on before,” said Heikkinen, “Most tracks I have to learn everything, walking the track several times and finding out where to push, where to be careful, all that stuff. When you have been to a track before you remember everything and that means you can go immediately into driving. I had that at Höljes and it does make it easier. But also last week I was fastest in practice and I had never seen that track before, so sometimes you find the pace very quickly anyway.”

Happy with the way the 2011 season has panned out, Heikkinen hopes to stay with Eklund Motorsport for 2012. “The car is great now and as I get more experience we are in the top group everywhere. I want to stay with Per next year, he’s a great teacher – a little crazy perhaps, but very good!” said Heikkinen who, immediately after the season ends, has the small matter of his National Service to do. “I have to go to the army for six months. The worst thing is that the first week they take us to the woods and we are not allowed any telephones, laptops, nothing. I don’t know how I will manage that, if I put my phone off for an hour I am all shaky…”

Tomorrow the action starts with first free practice between 1015 and 1230, the first heat scheduled for 1600.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.