The penultimate round of the V8 Thunder Finnish Championship series was driven at the brand new Kymiring racing track at Iiitti at the end of August. Most of the drivers had never driven there.
“The track has a very unique profile with all the height differences and the tarmac was relatively new so there was a lot to learn. The venue is great and has a lot of potential in the future for great racing events once it’s finished.” Milla Mäkelä comments on the new track.
On Saturday Milla was set to do one secure laptime to confirm a starting position in the top 3 and then push to challenge the top. The best time of the weekend so far was done on the first lap but then there was no more grip to improve the time so it was P3 for race 1. In the first race Milla had a severe technical issue in her car.
“On the warm up lap when gatering heat for the tires I felt heavy shaking on the steering wheel. The tires sticked to the track well, but the steering wheel was hard to hold at almost every turn. It was my luck that the race was a bit boring. A bit tight in the first corners, but I got out in P3 and was able to drive to the finish line in that position. First time in years my arms were sore from driving because the steering was beating my hands for full 20 minutes!” Milla recaps.
The team worked on the issue on Saturday evening and the issue was fixed for Sunday warm up. Milla was fastest over all in warm up run and the steering didn’t bother her on race 2.
“I was able to challenge the front two a bit, but I was near to lose the rear on top of a hill at mid race and the gap grew a bit. As the safety car and red flag shortened the race I ran out of time when catching up again. The car felt really good finally, so I wish there was more time left on the clock!” Milla says.
Thanks to the sixth podium in a row from the eight races of the season Milla is holding the second place in the Championship standings before the final round at Alastaro Circuit in September. Toni Lähteenmäki confirmed the title with 8 wins from 8 races, so Milla will race for the silver medal and race wins at the final round.