Competing on the Spanish island of Gran
Canaria for the first time and starting only his third event on Tarmac with his
Opel Corsa Rally4, Johansson took the lead on SS4 after a cautious start. But he
soon grew his advantage alongside co-driver Johan Gronwall to beat his fellow
Swede Calle Carlberg for first place by 35.5sec courtesy of nine stage wins for
the IKSport Racing team.
“We did some good preparation before the
race and a lot of the speed was coming from that,” said the 19-year-old
Johansson, who moves ahead of Max McRae in the provisional Junior ERC standings.
“I have been to a Tarmac rally school and also we have done quite a lot of
testing before coming here so it has been good.
“But we were just in a good rhythm, having
a good flow when I’m driving. They were really nice stages, super-smooth
Tarmac, almost like circuit racing, so I was just trying to enjoy."
Despite his dominance, there was a brief
scare for Johansson when he swiped a roadside barrier on SS8. “The lead wasn’t
that big and for sure anything could have happened so we needed to keep
pushing,” Johansson said. “I hit the rails on the outside, it was quite a big
drift in a fast-right corner. It was a bit more slippery than I thought.”
Carlberg’s first Junior ERC podium at his
second attempt underlined his promise as team-mate Timo Schulz made it two ADAC
Opel Rally Junior Team entries in the top three.
“We tried to drive in a good way, taking no
risks with no moments at all,” Carlberg said. “Mille was pushing today but I didn’t
dare on roads like this. One corner can be the difference between success and a
DNF and I couldn’t afford to do a DNF again so we had to stay calm and let
Mille do his thing. I know Timo is super-quick on Tarmac and we are faster than
him so I’m very happy about that.”
Schulz, who like Carlberg also retired on
the V-Híd Rally Hungary season opener, said: “Third is not really a good result, I expected something different. We
were a little too soft on the car [set-up] all the weekend, just trying to be
brave but I think that was not right.”
Round one winner Max McRae said he “drove
with my head” to finish fourth, the 19-year-old pointing to his lack of Tarmac
experience behind his decision to play safe in a Peugeot 208 Rally4 that didn’t
always handle to his liking.
Daniel Polášek finished a strong fifth with
Liam Müller sixth and Karl-Markus Sei seventh on his first Tarmac rally. Patrik
Herczig overcame a fuel pump issue on SS10 to finish eighth.
Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Aoife
Raftery was ninth with Mattia Zanin restarting on leg two to finish 10th. The
ACI Team Italia driver was fastest on Thursday evening’s super special stage
but retired on SS2 when his Peugeot’s front-left driveshaft broke leaving the
stage start.
Davide Pesavento was also back in action
after a crash on SS6 but his rally ended with another off on SS10. His Delta
Rally ACI Team Italia team-mate Geronimo Nerubutto retired after crashing out
on SS5.
Jack Brennan rolled his Motorsport Ireland
Rally Academy-entered Peugeot on SS2, while Aleksandar Tomov was excluded for a
rule infringement.
The race to win the 2024 FIA Junior ERC
Championship continues in Sweden next month with the second running of the
gravel-based BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia from 13 - 15 June.
Finland
Italy
Hungary