ERC
Blach makes his move as Llarena Racing progresses in ERC
Roberto Blach’s first outing with Llarena Racing might have ended in retirement but the Spaniard was nevertheless able to learn plenty from his new team boss.
Blach joined Efrén Llarena’s eponymous team for the FIA European Rally Championship season decider in Croatia earlier this month, switching from Škoda to Toyota power in the process.
After holding a points-scoring position for much of leg one, Blach dropped down the order on SS6 with tyre damage, fought back to 14th place early on leg two before he retired on the Power Stage.
Blach made his debut for Llarena Racing in Croatia
© ERC
“Efrén is great,” Blach said of the 2022 ERC champion. “We both did a lot of rallies in Spain with the Peugeot R2 and now he’s the manager. I am really happy because I can learn a lot with him. He knows a lot about this championship and he tells me a lot of things. The times were going in a good direction, doing changes with the car, so step by step we were improving and I enjoy the car a lot.
“The puncture was bad luck for us because I touch nothing. But I’m happy because [the afternoon] loop was better than the morning. The gap with the front drivers was less so I am happy for this.”
Llarena said: “I am trying to help Roberto as maximum as possible. But for sure it’s the first rally with the car for him after some small kilometres on the test. Let’s see what we can do.”
A points finish was on the cards for Black prior to his SS6 delay
© ERC
Llarena’s ERC driving ambition remains strong
As well as trying to establish Llarena Racing as an FIA European Rally Championship frontrunner, Efrén Llarena has firm plans to get back behind the wheel after he made two ERC appearances this season in addition to tackling the FIA World Rally Championship-counting Rally Islas Canarias in April.
“I would like to come back to ERC again next year, we are working for that but let’s see what we can do,” the 30-year-old said. “We now have two cars in the team and for sure it’s great for the team, but this is our maximum, I don’t like to have too many cars. Two cars is enough to have a decent project and try to have our best support for the drivers.”
