Maior among the ERC stars hoping to put on a show in the Swedish snow

Venue for round two of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship, the winter contest provides one of motorsport’s most exhilarating spectacles as drivers charge over ice-coated rollercoaster-style forest roads and rely on snowbanks to guide them through high-speed corners.  

Maior – who is contesting the FIA Junior WRC Championship as his prize for winning the Junior ERC title in 2023 – is tackling the Umeå-based rally for the first time for what also marks his WRC debut.  

The 25-year-old Romanian, who is co-driven by his sister Francesca in a Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally3 run by M-Sport Poland, said: “Last year has probably been the best year of mine and Francesca’s lives and we can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for us. Our motto for this year? Let's never give up.”

Maior’s rivals in the Junior WRC category include Mille Johansson, a Junior ERC points-scorer in 2023, and Jakub Matulka (above), who impressed on selected ERC3 outings last season. Meanwhile, Isak Reiersen, the Junior ERC winner on BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia last July, is making his WRC2 debut alongside ERC4 graduates Hikaru Kogure and Yuki Yamamoto.  

Other ERC entry highlights:
*Of the 57 drivers entered for Rally Sweden, 38 have ERC event experience

*All nine Rally1 drivers competing in Sweden have tackled rounds of the ERC including 2014 champion Esapekka Lappi

*As well as Lappi, Adrien Fourmaux, Nikolay Gryazin, Kalle Rovanperä, Oliver Solberg, Michał Sołowow and Ott Tänak have won ERC events in the past

*Other ERC title winners in action include Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg (below), plus Cameron Fair, who co-drove Jon Armstrong to the ERC3 title in 2023