ERC
Rahill beats Vatanen in thrilling inter-team ERC3 battle
Craig Rahill reversed an overnight deficit of 3.7sec to Ville Vatanen to score his first FIA ERC3 victory following a thrilling inter-team battle for top spot in the Rally3-based division.
The KMS Racing pair had been the star performers throughout the Tarmac event with Vatanen seemingly on course to repeat his round two win by finishing first on Rally di Roma Capitale. But Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-backed Rahill had other ideas and moved in front by going fastest on Sunday’s second stage.
And it would get better for Rahill – a podium finisher in Junior ERC in Rome 12 months ago – when he set the pace on SS10 and SS11 to secure victory ahead of Vatanen by 14.8sec.
“I’m just over the moon,” said Rahill, whose Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiest Rally3 was co-driven by Conor Smith. “We gave it a go this morning. I know we had to push hard to get ahead of Ville, we were 2.6sec down and we finished 14 ahead, so it’s been a good day of rallying. These machines are unbelievable on Tarmac roads, I’m just enjoying every second of it and I’m so happy to have the opportunity to be competing on these events. I want to thank the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and all my sponsors, without them I wouldn’t be out here doing this.”
Although he lost out on back-to-back wins, Vatanen moved ahead of round one winner Lucas Zielinski in the championship chase, albeit by one point over the Michelin-supplied Renault Clio Rally3 driver.
“I was struggling a little bit with the car this morning, I couldn’t get it to turn into medium corners as there was a little bit of understeer,” said the Finn, who still lacks experience on Tarmac. “I was also losing in the fast sections. It was a tight battle but second place is good points for the championship so I didn’t take a really big risk because it would have been quite stupid to drive out from a position like this.”
Zielinski, who took a stage win on SS8, edged out Casey Jay Coleman in the battle for third place. Coleman also dropped to second in the ERC Ford Fiesta Rally3 Trophy standings but heads to round four in Poland just one point behind Vatanen and firmly in contention to regain top spot. Visit FIAERC.com soon for a ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy report.
Matteo Fontana – the Colosseum special stage winner on Friday night – had demoted Coleman for fourth on SS10 but then went off the road on the Power Stage to leave Irishman Coleman to complete the top four as Petr Kačírek and Cian Caldwell finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Kalum Graffin, Charlie Tuthill, 2022 ERC3 champion Igor Widłak, Błażej Gazda and Alexandra Teslovan rounded out the list of finishers after three days of competition. However, Sebastian Butyński, Maximilian Lichtenegger, Nicolas Otto and Robert Proudlock failed to finish.
The FIA European Rally Championship’s Tarmac tour continues in the Polish city of Katowice and surrounding countryside of the Silesia region later this month with the 82nd running of Rally Poland from 24 - 26 July.
For more information, stage times and live updates go to the new ERC Live Centre by clicking HERE.
