Joining them once more will be American extreme sports specialist and Top Gear USA presenter Tanner Foust, who already starred for Marklund at Lydden Hill in the United Kingdom last month.
Kouvola is the second of a Nordic triple-header – Marklund’s home region – featuring rounds in Norway, Finland, and Sweden. The event is always massively popular among fans, having hosted rallycross since 2010. With a big jump and excellent views for spectators, another huge turnout is expected this weekend.
The track is 58 per cent asphalt and 42 per cent dirt, with a total length of 1060 metres as well as varying widths in order to facilitate overtaking. After an unlucky outing in Norway, which nonetheless showed plenty of potential, the Marklund team is looking ahead to a better weekend in Finland.
Team principal Jan Marklund said: ”I’m really looking forward to the Kouvola race. In Norway we had plenty of speed, but too many incidents and too much bad luck. Finland is another fresh chapter, and we’re delighted to welcome Tanner back for the second time this year. It’s a home event for Topi and he was very fast here last year so we’re feeling quite optimistic.”
Tanner is back!
Fresh from the X Games – an event where he has won more medals than any other competitor – Tanner joins Marklund Motorsport for the second time this year, following his appearance in World RX of Great Britain. Once more, the 41-year-old American is set to be a star attraction: and he’s a former winner in Kouvola. Naturally, he’s ”stoked” to be coming along.
Anton Marklund returns to winning territory
For Anton Marklund, Kouvola holds some great memories, as this is where he won his European rallycross touring car title in 2012. He had another strong performance there last year, finishing fourth in the semi-final and only losing out to the three drivers who ended up on the podium in the final. Now, he can’t wait to be back with the 2014 version of the Polo RX Supercar – which contains a number of evolutions compared to its predecessor. ”Kouvola is an amazing track where you really have to push hard to set good lap times: I think it should be well suited to our car,” said the Swede. ”For a driver it is especially challenging: you have jumps, slippery corners and also fast sections that make it tough to find the last few tenths when it comes to lap times. But with the speed I showed last year and the car I have this year I’m feeling confident. It’s going to be a lot of fun to go back there with Topi and Tanner in the team as well: between us we all have the chance to get some really good results.”
Heikkinen comes home
Despite some very strong performances this year, Topi Heikkinen – currently third in the drivers’ championship – is still looking for his first win of 2014: and where else would be better to do it other than his home territory? ”It’s always really exciting to race at home and obviously we’ve got loads of fans coming to see us, which is great,” he said. ”We’ve made some special areas and arrangements for them, so I hope they’re going to have a fantastic time. Kouvola is a track that I know quite well: it’s really exciting, it goes up and down a lot, and it really does require the maximum concentration. The first corner is very fast and normally something happens there, when five cars dive in side-by-side! Obviously I’ve only got one goal here – and that’s winning.”
The track action at Kouvola begins with practice and two rounds of heats on Saturday June 28. There are more heats on Sunday morning (June 29) followed by two-semi finals and the final at 1500 on Sunday afternoon.
