Junior ERC
Two from two as Carlberg proves he’s the Junior ERC star
Calle Carlberg strengthened his FIA Junior ERC points lead with a second succussive victory, the Opel-driving Swede winning his class on ORLEN OIL 81st Rally Poland with ease.
Leading the Hankook-equipped category by 28.2sec at the completion of leg one, second-year driver Carlberg was 26.4sec in front of Jaspar Vaher when the Estonian stopped on SS12 with a reported driveshaft failure.
Vaher’s unfortunate exit in his Lancia Ypsilon Rally4 after a fine drive left Carlberg to cruise to the finish with an advantage of 2min 34.9sec ahead of Ioan Lloyd, who celebrated his maiden Junior ERC podium in an impressive second place driving a Peugeot 208 Rally4.
Following his victory alongside Jørgen Eriksen, Carlberg said: “It’s amazing. I’m proud of myself but I wouldn’t be able to do it without a great team, a great car beneath me and a great co-driver. Everything is just clicking at the moment and now we head to Tarmac, my favourite surface.”
Ioan Lloyd scored his first Junior ERC podium
© ERC
Welshman Lloyd reached Saturday’s overnight 3.0sec ahead of Craig Rahill. But when the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver slide wide on today’s second stage and broke a driveshaft after hitting a rock, Lloyd had to focus on keeping Mark-Egert Tiits at bay instead.
“It’s a tough rally but I absolutely loved it,” Lloyd said. “It’s such a sensation to drive on these roads, such high speed and I’m absolutely delighted with the result. I couldn’t have asked for better before coming here. It’s a shame Craig went off but these things happen and we’ve all been there.”
Tuukka Kauppinen, who had been third after four stages only for two deflated rear tyres on SS5 to leave him in 12th position at the end of leg one, excelled as he fought back to finish third. “I pushed the limit all the time, it was normal driving,” the Finn said. “It’s just an amazing feeling.”
Tuukka Kauppinen fought back to finish third
© ERC
Tiits, meanwhile, started the Power Stage in third place but slipped to fifth behind Aoife Raftery, who emulated her best Junior ERC result to date by placing fourth after a determined drive from the Irishwoman.
It was a troubled finale for Tiits, who was three kilometres from the finish when his Ford Fiesta Rally4 was slowed by overheating issue, as the Estonian explained.
“The ruts were so deep that there was no possible way to get out of them,” said Tiits. “There was a bad bump which we hit because we had no choice and the front airduct got stuck in front of the radiator and stopped cooling so we had high engine temperature and stopped on the stage. It’s a shame, we were so close [to the podium]. It was my target to finish the rally but targets change during the rally although we are still happy with the pace.”
Round one winner Sergi Pérez overcame tyre damage to complete the top six ahead of Victor Hansen, Keelan Grogan, Francesco Dei Ceci, Simon Andersson and Renault Clio Rally5 driver Artur Luca.
Leevi Lassila restarted after stopping with a broken oil filter on leg one and placed 12th in the final order.
The Junior ERC drivers and co-drivers were competing in memory of Matteo Doretto, who lost his live in a private testing accident on Wednesday. Several tributes were paid to the 21-year-old from Italy, who scored a breakthrough Junior ERC podium on ERC Staff House Rally Hungary last month.
Rally di Roma Capitale is up next on the Junior ERC schedule from 4 - 6 July, the Italian event marking a return to asphalt after two events on gravel in Hungary and Poland.
