Junior ERC
Home hero Lloyd in the Junior ERC victory battle
Ioan Lloyd made light of his lack of Opel Corsa Rally4 seat time to fight at night in the FIA Junior ERC Championship.
Last year’s runner-up is making a one-off return to the series on his home event, JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion, and reached the opening night halt in second place, 4.3sec behind ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team stablemate Timo Schulz.
Schulz posted the category benchmark time on SS1, outpacing Ford Fiesta privateer Colin Dünker by 0.9sec. Dünker then reversed the positions on SS2, beating his fellow German by 0.3sec, only to lose vital time with a spin on SS3, slipping from second to sixth in the process.
Having completed SS2 – the second of two runs through the Aberystwyth super special – in third place - Lloyd shot into the lead by winning the 6.28-kilometre SS3, Elerch.
Timo Schulz held the overnight lead on Friday
© At World
But Schulz proved unbeatable on SS4 to retake the lead by 4.3sec over Lloyd with Tom Heindrichs making it an Opel Corsa Rally4 podium lockout in third.
Heindrichs, the leader of the ERC4 and Junior ERC standings prior to the start, headed to SS3 on the backfoot after he was handed a 10-second penalty due to “something not working in the car”, according to the Belgian. “They did a small mistake but that’s part of the game. I am looking forward and we gain back the time.”
Lancia-powered Sebastian Dallapiccola is fourth with Claire Schönborn fifth and Peugeot-driving Kyle McBride sixth for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, despite a moment on SS3. Francesco Dei Ceci is seventh followed by the delayed Dünker, but Davide Pesavento is out of contention for a second victory of the season after he rolled from third place on SS4.
Coleman edges Vatanen in ERC3 victory chase
Casey Jay Coleman headed the FIA ERC3 order after four stages, 0.5 sec in front of champion elect and fellow Ford Fiesta Rally3 driver Ville Vatanen. Kalum Graffin is third with a mere 2.1sec covering the top three. Petr Kačírek holds fourth in class followed by Charlie Tuthill, who took his maiden ERC3 stage win with the fastest time on SS1.
Round six of the 2026 ERC season continues tomorrow (Saturday) with the 12.02-kilometre Aberffrwd test from 08:55 local time.
Watch the action live on Rally.TV and follow all the news, stage times and results via the Live Centre.
