ERC
Six of the best: Junior ERC title showdowns revisited
Timo Schulz and Tom Heindrichs will join a long list of drivers to battle for the FIA Junior ERC title on the season finale when they face off on Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal later this month.
Ahead of the eagerly anticipated championship showdown between the Hankook-equipped ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team drivers, FIAERC.com looks back on six epic Junior ERC title deciders.
Stéphane Lefebvre
© ERC
2014: Lefebvre beats Crugnola to inaugural Junior ERC title
While Andrea Crugnola made it back-to-back Junior ERC wins with an impressive first place finish on Tour de Corse, it wasn’t enough for the Italian to prevent Frenchman Stéphane Lefebvre from landing the inaugural title and the prize drive of two ERC events in an R5 car in 2015. Lefebvre started the island-based finale leading Crugnola by nine points and in the knowledge that finishing behind his rival would be enough for the crown. “It’s a great moment for my career,” Lefebvre said afterwards. “This rally was not easy for me, but I am very happy to have finished second. It was not my objective to push but to finish and it’s a very good season for us.” Crugnola said: “We 50/50 happy. We showed we have the speed, but we were not lucky in the beginning of the season. Also, we made some mistakes but also Stéphane made some mistakes. We have the pace but finally we finish second so it’s not the result we were looking for.”
Marijan Griebel
© ERC
2016: Griebel overcomes Ingram threat to become champion
Marijan Griebel became the third Junior ERC champion in an incredible winner-takes-all battle with Chris Ingram on Rally Liepāja. The Opel team-mates came into the event knowing that a win would secure the title. Griebel led Ingram by 0.7sec after day one before they tied on time through the first stage of the final leg. An off dropped Ingram to fourth before he was forced out by electrical failure on SS11. But Griebel still needed to win the rally to become champion and faced stiff opposition from Miko Niinemäe and Alex Forsström, who were within six seconds of him with two stages remaining. Despite being forced to run a mixture of tyre compounds on the final stage after discovering a slow puncture, Griebel held on for victory by just 4.7sec. “It’s a completely amazing feeling,” said Griebel. “I had everything in my hands in the Czech Republic and made a mistake. Here, I think I drove the best rally of my life: 100 per cent aggressive and committed from the start with no mistakes.” Griebel’s reward was a prize drive in a Škoda Fabia R5 on Cyprus Rally three weeks later. He finished second overall as Nikolay Gryazin, who held third initially, crashed.
I think I drove the best rally of my life: 100 per cent aggressive and committed from the start with no mistakes
Chris Ingram
© ERC
2017: Deflation for Huttinen leads to elation for Ingram
With a lead of 25.4sec over Opel team-mate Chris Ingram, Jari Huttunen was in the Junior ERC title ascendency after the opening day of Rally Liepāja. But an off on SS8 left the Finn’s Opel Adam R2 with a double deflation. And with only one spare on board, Huttunen was forced to complete the morning loop with only three fully-inflated tyres. The resulting time loss left Ingram in the clear to take the title and the 100,000-euro career progression fund on offer, 12 months after he lost the crown to his then team-mate Marijan Griebel. Mārtiņš Sesks hit back from a spectacular roll on SS5 to finish second with Filip Mareš, a title contender before the start, third at the end of his first season of international competition. “My first ERC round was here in Latvia four years ago and I’ve been trying to win this title ever since so to do it is the best thing ever,” Ingram said. “I’ve been so dedicated and everything has paid off now.”
Efrén Llarena
© ERC
2019: Late drama hands Llarena championship glory
Ken Torn appeared to have done enough to win the Junior ERC title on Barum Czech Rally Zlín. But following an adjustment to the notional time awarded to Jean-Baptiste Franceschi on the halted SS15, Efrén Llarena was promoted from second to first in class, which handed the Spaniard championship glory – and two Junior ERC1 prize drives in 2020 – by a single point ahead of Estonian Torn. Trouble had struck Torn when he lost nearly two minutes on SS12 with tyre damage. With Torn dropping to fifth, Llarena knew victory would give him the title. But Franceschi, Torn’s team-mate, had other ideas, passing Llarena for the lead on the same stage as Torn lost his time. Franceschi then increased his advantage by 1.3sec on SS13. Although Llarena clawed that time back on Pindula, the penultimate stage, with the final stage of the rally halted after a crashed car blocked the road, Franceschi appeared to have secured his second Junior ERC win of 2019. As well as being 4.0sec behind Franceschi, Llarena was seven points down on Torn in the title battle. That was until the adjusted times demoted Franceschi, who was being saddled by a mechanical issue, to fourth. Sindre Furuseth, who had an outside shot at the title prior to the start, slipped to fourth behind Erik Cais on SS14. “We were always on the limit with some big moments like all the drivers,” said Llarena. “We knew we needed to win and we deserved it. We were working too hard for two years not to win and we thank the Spanish federation a lot for all the support.”
Jean-Baptiste Franceschi
© ERC
2021: Franceschi first as Pajari makes his mark
Anthony Fotia might have taken a big Junior ERC win on the Rally Islas Canarias decider, but Jean-Baptiste Franceschi won bigger still. Despite finishing in third place behind title rival Sami Pajari, Renault-powered Franceschi secured the points he needed for championship glory. “I still can’t believe it, I’m still dreaming and, to be honest, I’m lost for words because it’s the dream I had since the start of the season,” Franceschi said at the finish in Gran Canaria. “Of course we had a strong season but at the same time some difficult moments. But finally we did it and this is the result of a lot of work with Toksport and Renault Sport. It’s just amazing and I’m so, so happy. It’s a dream season, just crazy.”
Norbert Maior
© ERC
2023: Maior magic in three-way shootout
Roberto Daprà, Norbert Maior and Ola Nore started the 2023 Junior ERC title decider locked in a close battle with Maior four points ahead of Daprà and 12 in front of Nore before dropped scores were factored in. After Nore dropped out of contention on the Rally Hungary finale with tyre damage on SS2, Daprà was next to hit trouble when he completed SS3 with smoke coming from under his Peugeot 208 Rally4’s bonnet. Having won SS2 and SS5, Maior went quickest again on SS6 to lead the recovering Daprà by 16.1sec. But Daprà was faster than Maior the first leg’s closing two stages to trail Maior by 9.1sec at the completion of day one. Maior responded on the final day by winning SS9 and SS10 to extend his lead to 13.9sec with just the Power Stage remaining. While Timo Schulz set the fastest time on the rally-deciding test, Maior became champion after taking his first victory of the season by 7.1sec ahead of Daprà.
