17.1.2023 - Mikko Eskelisen retired in Arctic Lapland Rally - Broken wheel base forced to stop rallying after penultimate special stage
Traditional Finnish rally season opener, 58th Arctic Lapland Rally was driven in surroundings of Arctic Circle, Northen Finland. Season 2023 edition of the highly appreciated rally didn't delivered success for Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Mikko Eskelinen, age of 50, and his co-driver Arto Kapanen, age of 59 as their hopes for WRC-group victory was denied due technical problem which encountered in penultimate stage of the rally.
- In half way of the long Sarriojärvi special stage we encoutered technical difficulties as one of the wheel base broke up and our 4WD rally car was turned into 3WD version. We were forced to slow down to avoid larger damages. Then in service we decided to retire because there were no time to change the broken part, Eskelinen told.
WRC-drivers entered the event with high hopes and after two stages they were in eight position in overall standings. However a spin in third stage caused snow to block cooler and therefore they lost over two minutes because of cleaning work. After that it was just a pure survival for the finish in highly demanding rally.
- It was a normal right-hand corner. However because of heavy loose snow on the stage I lost the rear and started to spin. During our spin the spectators and their camp fire were hit by heavy snow storm and the front grill of our car was filled with snow. In this moment we lost two minutes and it was game over for top positions, Eskelinen shared his thoughts.
- In 7th stage we encountered another spin and then in 10th stage
we suffered this technical problem which eventually caused our retirement. It was a frustrating rally for us, Flying Finn continued.
It was a fierce battle for the victory of two days and over 200 special stage kilometres rally as two multiple Finnish Rally Champions measured their skills behind the steering wheel of Skoda Fabia R5 Evo car. Eventually Teemu Asunmaa collect the victory in front of Juha Salo. Asunmaa and his co-driver Ville Mannisenmäki drove the stages just by 1,5 seconds faster than Salo.
Mikko Eskelinen plans to compete in his home rally which is to be driven in first weekend of March in surroundings of his home city Jyväskylä, which is also known as spriritual home of rallying.
Final results 58th Arctic Lapland Rally 2023: Overall classifications top-3:
1. Teemu Asunmaa & Ville Mannisenmäki, Skoda Fabia R5 EVO, 1:57:49,0
2. Juha Salo & Kristian Temonen, Skoda Fabia R5 EVO, +1,5s
3. Lauri Joona & Tuukka Shemeikka, Skoda Fabia R5 EVO, +1:48,7s
--- retired. Mikko Eskelinen & Arto Kapanen, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, mechanical after ss ek10
