Jalava goes back to go forward in Junior ERC

After finishing fifth on his Junior ERC debut on ORLEN 79th Rally Poland last month in a Sparrow Racing Team Ford Fiesta Rally4, Jalava was reunited with the Toyota Starlet he used to win last season’s Finnish Junior title when he tackled the recent Multia Ralli in his homeland.

With his co-driver from 2022, Matias Peippo, on board, Jalava won his class in second overall. And he’ll continue his alliance with Peippo in Latvia this week after Riikka Hokkanen partnered him in Poland.

“We’re heading into this [weekend] with a positive mindset,” the 26-year-old Jalava said. “We also took our Toyota Starlet out for a spin at the Multia Ralli to get into the groove. Matias Peippo, who has been my co-driver for the past two seasons, will be joining me in Liepaja.

“Liepāja should be easier compared to Poland since it was our first ERC rally, and the roads there were quite different from what we are used to in Finland. The roads in Latvia are faster and should not have as much grooving. We'll aim for a good flow right from the shakedown. If everything falls into place, the goal is to set competitive top three times and be among the frontrunners.”

New recruits up Junior ERC contingent to 17
Karl-Markus Sei, Mark-Egert Tiits and Jaspar Vaher are new additions to the Junior ERC entry for Tet Rally Liepāja. Entered under the Team Estonia Autosport banner, the trio brings the number of registrations on round two of the Hankook-equipped Junior ERC season to 17.

Nore brings in world champion Eriksen
Fresh from co-driving Andreas Mikkelsen to the WRC2 victory on Rally Italia Sardegna at the start of the month, Torstein Eriksen (pictured third from left above) will bring his vast experience to fellow Norwegian’s Ola Nore’s Renault Clio Rally4. The 33-year-old won the 2021 FIA WRC2 Championship for Co-Drivers and is highly rated.

Nore, meanwhile, tops the provisional championship standings following his category victory in Poland when Rune Eilertsen co-drove. He’s six points in front of Romania’s Norbert Maior with Victor Hansen from Sweden three points further back. Roberto Daprà, Miko Jalava, Max McRae, Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Aoife Raftery and Daprà’s ACI Team Italia colleague Mattia Zanin are also well placed after the first event of the season.