Finn Toomas “Topi” Heikkinen is ready to return to Global RallyCross Championship action after his bad crash during practice runs for the X Games 18 in Los Angeles.
When asked by ERC24 about his return to the GRC series for the fifth 2012 round young Finnish Rallycrosser “Topi” Heikkinen was in good mood. “Yes, I am ready to race. I can’t walk properly yet, but I can drive cars. I still have a lot of work to do and I practice like hell every day. I like to express my big thanks to all my fans and to my team. OMSE has build a complete new car for me, and that’s why I’m so proud of them. I also wanna say thankyou to Bluebeam Software and all others sponsors and partners. My first test drives [on Tuesday and Wednesday] with the all-new Fiesta are just a couple of days prior to the race on September 29 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And there is no question about my plans – I’ll set the fastest times and will be prepared to take home the overall win.”
Although shattering his left ankle in no less than 15 places as well as suffering some other injuries, including the damage of his urethra, the 21-year-old has not lost his confidence. After the accident Heikkinen underwent surgery to insert a plate with seven pins, so that his ankle was able to heal properly. After a five-day stay in the hospital in Los Angeles the Finn returned to his home town of Joensuu to start a recovery programme. In early August he had his cast removed, by mid August his boot off and in early September he started to walk on his injured foot for the first time. Immediately after that Heikkinen began with a physical therapy that is still not finished yet.