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Less than a month after undergoing an ankle operation, defending Global Rallycross Supercars champion Toomas Heikkinen made his return to driving in this weekend’s Andros Trophy round at the Isola 2000 circuit. In his first ice racing experience, Heikkinen earned respectable finishes of eighth and fourth place overall in the two days of racing.

“The weekend was great and of course fun!” Heikkinen posted to his Facebook page on Saturday. “Basically, you’re sideways all the time, so who wouldn’t enjoy that?”

As he adapted to driving on ice, Heikkinen’s results improved over the course of the weekend. In timed practice, he only managed the 14th fastest lap, but in his second qualifying session on the first day climbed to sixth place. The next day, he climbed to third in the second qualifying session and finished second in his final race.

The Andros Trophy, established in 1990, is the world’s premier ice racing championship. World-famous drivers like Formula 1 champions Alain Prost and Jacques Villeneuve, as well as World Touring Car Championship veterans Yvan Muller and defending Andros champion Jean-Phillippe Dayraut, have competed for the series championship, which predominantly takes place in France. Muller’s 46 race wins and 10 titles (seven of which came consecutively from 1996-2002) are series records.

Heikkinen made his Global Rallycross debut in 2012 after previously competing in various European championships; despite missing two races due to injury, he earned two top-five finishes as a rookie. In 2013, he dominated the series by earning eight consecutive podium finishes and five wins in the span of 43 days over the summer, clinching the championship in the penultimate round of the championship.

Photo credit: B. Bade/Andros Trophy