Erik Cais and Georg Linnamäe, who both produced stage-winning pace on Rally Serras de Fafe - Felgueiras - Cabreira e Boticas last month, will line up in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 respectively when Croatia hosts the FIA World Rally Championship for a second time.
Neither young star has previous Croatia Rally knowledge although Cais, 22, has more ‘match’ practice having contested an all-asphalt test event in Slovenia recently with the Czech finishing second on WITHU Rally Vipavska dolina.
Meanwhile, Linnamäe’s British co-driver, James Morgan, has high hopes for the 23-year-old from Estonia, especially after he topped the WRC2 Junior category on Rally Sweden ahead of his trip to northern Portugal for the ERC season opener.
“Everything is improving, Georg is improving, the team is improving and everything is going in the right direction,” Morgan said. “I think we’ll have a good end to the year and get to the front in WRC2 because we’re still learning at the moment. It was good to see Georg come up to speed and challenge consistently at the front [in Fafe], that showed real progression against a good entry.”
For Cais, a strong result in Croatia would continue an impressive start to the former downhill mountain bike racer’s season. His first scheduled appearance of the year on Rallye Monte-Carlo in January netted second place in WRC2 Open and first in WRC2 Junior.
Croatia Rally will mark WRC appearance number three for Cais, who made his debut at world level last October. Although they are not entirely similar, there are similarities between the changeable grip on the sealed-surface stages in Croatia, and those found on Barum Czech Rally Zlín, which Caise came within a stage of winning last August.
Other drivers with recent ERC2 experience competing in Croatia include Miko Marczyk, plus Junior WRC trio Jon Armstrong, Jean-Baptiste Franceschi and Sami Pajari.
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