Leppihalme guns for S1600 crown

Finnish teenager Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme says he will win the Super1600 title in the European Rallycross Championship this year.

The 19-year-old will return to SetPromotion with whom he undertook a campaign of seven events in 2011, achieving a remarkable third place on his debut in Norway and going on to place sixth in the championship having also collected second place finishes in Holland and Poland. In addition to his on-track results, Leppihalme was named as the best Finnish Rallycross driver of the year by magazine Vauhdin Maailma and sports person of the year in his home town of Parkano.

Leppihalme will drive the Renault Clio II that his Norwegian team mate Andreas Bakkerud drove the championship title in 2011 – and that was previously by Timur Timerzyanov to win the championship in 2010 – and says everything is right to win. “The goal is to be European champion. There are no other goals. Last year showed that there is enough speed. I’m feeling good and expectations are high. We have managed to build a nice package with great sponsors. Now it’s down to me to perform,” he said.

At present it’s star driver is doing his military service with the Niinisalo artillery brigade but, when that is complete, SetPromotion will go to France for its pre-season testing and team boss Jussi Pinomäki is confident that he understands his young compatriot’s strengths and weaknesses. “It is rare to be able to break into the top places in the first season. The first couple of years are usually needed for practice, but Jussi-Petteri learned things fast and showed in the first competition that he belongs at this level. All the basics are in order. We both know which are the things that we know well and which need more attention,” he said.

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