ERC
Tense battle for second under the Junior ERC spotlight
The battle to finish runner-up to Calle Carlberg in the FIA Junior ERC Championship will take centre stage when Croatia Rally hosts the season decider this week.
Ioan Lloyd holds the position ahead of the all-Tarmac round, but with seven points between the Welshman and Irishman Craig Rahill, the battle for second is set to go down to the wire.
“It is crazy to think that we are already at the season finale,” said 23-year-old Lloyd, who pilots a Peugeot 208 Rally4 in the Hankook-supplied series alongside co-driver Sion Williams. “We’ve progressed a long way this year and we can be really happy with where we are at heading into the last round. The plan is to try our best, as always, and try and finish well and have a good result in the championship.
“We've had a few good races in the past with Craig. We can afford to finish one place behind him, so we just need to bear that in mind. We need to be sensible and do our usual thing.”
Ioan Lloyd occupies second place in the Junior ERC standings
© ERC
Rahill switched from Peugeot to Lancia power for Barum Czech Rally Zlín in August and promptly bagged his maiden victory in young driver category.
“It’s going to be tight, everything needs to fall into place,” the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-backed driver said of his prospects for finishing runner-up. “It’s been a great year and to be here at the last round fighting for second is really something special, so let’s hope we can bring it home and get second.”
Like Lloyd, Rahill is a Croatia Rally rookie. He’s braced for a tough challenge alongside co-driver Conor Smith but boosted by his first-place finish in Czech Republic.
Rahill trails Lloyd by seven points
© T8 Creative
“The stages look very tricky, very narrow with lots of pollution. We’re going to try to continue on from the last round in Barum, we were delighted to come away with first there, it’s not going to be easy with all the lads, they’re all going to be pushing hard. We’re just going to do our own thing and find a steady pace and hopefully finish off where we left off in Barum.”
Nine drivers will chase Junior ERC points on Croatia Rally. In addition to Carlberg, Lloyd and Rahill, Keelan Grogan competes in a Peugeot 208 Rally4 under the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy banner and can finish as high as third in the final standings.
ACI Team Italia-supported Francesco Dei Ceci makes his first appearance in a Lancia Ypsilon Rally4 HF, the car of choice for Finland’s Tuukka Kauppinen.
Leevi Lassila, part of the Flying Finn Academy young driver development programme, has shown impressive progression throughout the season in his Opel Corsa Rally4, while Karl Peder Nordstand scored a podium finish on his Junior ERC debut on Barum Czech Rally Zlín.
Pröglhöf is chasing his first Junior ERC silverware on Croatia Rally
© ERC
Luca Pröglhöf, Calle Carlberg’s successor as champion of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup powered by GSE and recipient of a season-long Junior ERC prize drive, took part on Rally Kumrovec in Croatia three weeks ago, which used two stages included on the Croatia Rally itinerary. After finishing second in class on that event, the Austrian said: “We feel well prepared because, on the one hand, we have an almost complete set of notes and, on the other hand, we have a well-functioning basic set-up for the Corsa Rally4. We will try to repeat the good stage times we achieved at Rally Kumrovec in the European championship. And since I haven’t been able to win a Junior ERC trophy this season, I would like to pick one up at the final.”
How to watch?
Fans across the globe can experience the excitement and drama of the ERC with every stage of every rally broadcast Rally.TV platform. In addition, the ERC is broadcast in a number of countries around the world and fans are advised to check local listings for details.
Croatia Rally: the key numbers
Stages: 10
Stage distance: 172.36 kilometres
Total distance: 589.89 kilometres
