ERC
Brynildsen holding on in the ERC as Reiersen closes up
Eyvind Brynildsen is holding on to his BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia lead as he bids for a maiden FIA European Rally Championship victory.
Heading into Saturday’s deciding leg in front by 5.1sec, a stage win for closest rival Isak Reiersen and a near miss for Brynildsen on SS11 means the Norwegian’s advantage has been trimmed to 3.9sec with two stages of the morning loop remaining.
“I had to ask again for a pacenote because I was really focused and it was a bit more tight than I thought,” Brynildsen said of his huge moment. “There was a little mistake but I need to step up now. I think the one without mistakes today will be on the top step. It was a great stage.”
After winning SS10, Hankook-equipped Swede Reiersen said: “It is tempting to go for the win isn’t it. I like the stage I struggled with it last year but this year it was better, so I have made some improvements.”
In the battle for third place, Frank Tore Larsen moved to within 1.1sec of Roope Korhonen on SS10, but a troubled run for Larsen through SS11 allowed his fellow MRF-shod driver to open up a margin of 3.1sec.
“I thought it was slippy for everyone but that is really bad," said Larsen, who suffered a wild slide.
By winning the all-new SS11, Bjurerud, Pirelli-equipped Andrea Mabellini is 9.8sec behind Larsen with 2024 Junior ERC champion Mille Johansson demoting Michelin-supplied Miko Marczyk for sixth place.
“It was crazy this stage, incredible,” Mabellini said after he outpaced Reiersen by 2.0sec. “It is slippy like hell and fast like hell, it is not easy to manage this situation for someone that isn’t a Nordic guy.”
Mads Østberg, who has spent the morning reporting a lack of grip on the high-speed gravel stages, is eighth followed by Simone Tempestini and Stéphane Lefebvre.
Two stage wins by Tristan Charpentier means the Frenchman is now 10.8sec behind FIA ERC3 leader Tymek Abramowski, whose advantage over second-placed Adrian Rzeźnik is 9.8sec. Victor Hansen is on course to win FIA ERC4 after he restarted this morning following his retirement on SS4 with driveshaft failure.
The rerun of 11.32-kilometre Ängebäckstorp stage is next from 09:09 local time.
