The 17-year-old rally talent Mille Johansson from Sweden started the season by taking third place in the Finnish championship premiere Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi, together with co-driver Julia Thulin. This after a problem-filled competition where they struggled with engine problems throughout the rally.
– The rally didn’t go so well, with engine problems for basically the entire weekend. We got a stage where we could drive at full power, and with good tires, and there we showed we had the speed to fight for the win. So it was great to get a receipt on that. In addition to that, this was probably the coolest rally I’ve run, says Mille Johansson after the 23 km of special stages north of the Arctic Circle.
– It was a good and challenging rally. I really enjoyed the event, and the organization had done a very good job from start to finish. Unfortunately, we had engine problems for large parts of the rally, but we are happy that we managed to fight our way to the finish line and finish third. The mood was at good, and we are constantly fighting our way up despite setbacks, says Julia.
The Arctic Lapland Rally was also the first race for Mille in his new team GN Motorsport.
– The team has done a great job all weekend, with troubleshooting and servicing the car between the stages. It’s been an educational week together with GN Motorsport, and I’m looking forward to the next race with them, concludes Mille.
Mille and Julia finished third in the SM3 class, for two-wheel drive cars, in their Ford Fiesta Rally4. The class was won by Justus Räikkönen, nephew of F1-World Champion Kimi Räikkönen.
Mille’s competition program for the 2023 season will be presented later on.