Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen was left disappointed for a second time in the FIA World Rallycross Championship after missing out in the semi-finals of the 2017 World RX of Portugal.
The EKS RX driver finished Q1 in eighth place after Kevin Eriksson got the better of him in the first race, a fifteenth fastest time in Q2 dropped him down the overall standings to thirteenth overnight.
Q3 would see another thirteenth place in the standings before securing seventh place in the Q4 races, the result of this secured his appearance in the semi-final.
Starting from row three alongside Hoonigan Racing Division’s Andreas Bakkerud, Heikkinen missed out on progressing to the finals by just one position as team-owner Mattias Ekstrom took victory ahead of the two Team Peugeot-Hansen cars of Sébastien Loeb and Timmy Hansen.
“I was struggling with the pace during the whole weekend.” admitted Heikkinen. “I could not get all the performance out of the car. There has been some bad luck with decisions in my races, too. Anyway, I’m super happy that Mattias and Reinis have been in the final and Mattias took the big trophy home.”
As a result of a frustrating weekend, Heikkinen drops to tenth place in the championship standings. The third round in the championship sees competitors head to Germany for the World RX of Hockenheim, in 2016 Heikkinen took third place behind Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristoffersson.
