The Final round of the Finnish championship races were driven in Alastaro on 24th and 25th of September. The wings added for this season brought some extra challenge to setting up the car, but Milla was feeling confident going for the bronze championship medal. Trainings were done mostly on wet or damp track but on race days the sun was shining and that didn’t make finding the setup any easier, not to mention the technical probelms that messed up the only dry trainings available. On qualifying Milla got 6th place on the grid but was only 0,4 seconds from the second fastest time driven in that session so the speed was there.
First race was in quite a warm weather and on good grip that team had no experience on with wings so some more adjustments had to be made after the first race in which Milla finished 6th. On second race Milla was strugling with the car and setup having hard time with breaks and gear changes but finished on well deserved 3rd place. On the last race of the day the problem kept getting worse with the brakes, which made Milla finishing in 6th place. The team thought that the championship medal had ran away due to a bad weekend. It wasn’t until the next day at home when the points were actually counted and the team figured out that Milla had in fact the bronze medal of the championship!
“In Kemora everything went well and of that we were extremely pleased about, but we would have never thought that with such a final race weekend we would still reach for the bronze medal. This year the rest of the grid consisted of only medalists and champions from previous years. Now I also became a championship medal holder! Even though there was not so many cars, the races were thouger than ever.”, Milla comments on her accomplishment.
On previous years Milla had been 4th in the series twice and once fifth and the medal has always been so close but now Milla finally has one at home. Next years plans are still open but in Formula Fords we are mostly working on team services and Milla will propably move her focus on racing with the BMW Xtreme series.
On previous Alastaro race the BMW Xtreme season was unfortynately interrupted from all teams drivers as the engine from Miikkas and Markos car blew up on the first race of the weekend giving them three times DNF positions. Boys decided to skip the last race weekend after losing so many points and the chance for championship medal. On Millas and Mikas car the B-pilar was hit by another competitor on the last race so that it needs a lot more maintenance. And due to unfortunate season so far there was no chance for any championship medals the team decided to retire that car too and consentrate on Millas Formula Ford maintenance and races. Despite not driving the last 6 races of the series Miikka and Marko were 7th in the points, while Mika and Milla were on 17th place.
“The BMW Xtreme season this time was really challenging but lot of successfull races were there aswell all the way to the end. Next season we will mostlikely be providing team services in Formula Fords and BMW Xtreme plans will come more precise as we get our hands on the season calendar.”, Miikka summed up on the past season.
Mäkelä Racing Team would like to thank you all of our sponsors and cooperating partners for the past season!
