Junior WRC Championship rookies shine as veterans falter with Tom Kristensson leading Rally Sweden by 1m44.0s after an eventful day of rallying. Meanwhile the veterans of the class feel the merciless bite of Rally Sweden’s notorious stages.
If Friday was the action-packed thriller then Saturday was the jaw-dropping drama, dusted with gob-smacking plot twists.
Denis Rådström had a commanding lead heading onto stage nine this morning with Kristensson 1m16.5s adrift. Rådström won every stage with ease on his way to Service E. The drivers then faced stage 12, where Rådström snatched a narrow stage win over Martins Sesks by just 0.9s across the 23.13km stage. This would be Rådström’s final stage win of the day as he went sliding into a snowbank on stage 13. After spectators desperately helped Rådström’s stricken car back onto the stage, the Swede attempted to complete the stage but had to retire the car due to extensive damage.
Rådström is one of two Junior WRC drivers undertaking their third Junior WRC season along with Julius Tannert. Tannert started the day third in Junior WRC however he too was caught out by the challenging conditions on stage 12. The damaged sustained was too much to continue underlining the fact that experience is just one of the many variables required to conquer Rally Sweden unscathed.
Prior to Tannert’s exit, Junior WRC rookie Roland Poom was making steady progress with his times against the German. By the end of stage nine Poom infiltrated the top three, 3m25.5s off leader Rådström, and was into second by stage 14. Poom claimed his best stage result of 2nd on stage 13 and now sits behind leader Kristensson.
Kristensson is now on the verge of becoming the third different Swede to win the Junior WRC class on Rally Sweden. He drove his EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta R2 with cautious consistency while maintaining a relatively competitive pace. Using his lead to his advantage paid off for Kristensson despite being over 100 seconds down on the leader at one point of the rally! Kristensson leads going into the final three stages on Sunday with 51.31km of the rally remaining.
Jan Solans claimed the final stage win of the day on stage 16 and rounded out the top three overall. He adopted a similar approach to Poom and Kristensson, he has been able to keep the car point in the right direction with no major mistakes and heads into Sunday with gap of 2m21.3s to British driver Tom Williams in fourth.
Sesks had mixed fortunes throughout the day, spinning the car on stage 11, he finished a selection stages within seconds of Rådström and snatched a stage win after Rådström’s day-ending incident.
Tom Kristensson said: « Today is a complete surprise and it is totally amazing. We have simply been focussing on our rally and each stage as it comes; to be leading is great but for us it is all about the kilometres and learning the car. I am Swedish but not too familiar with the ice and snow as I am from the south which makes this extraordinary. The car has been great and I am still growing in confidence so hopefully this is the start of a promising season. »
RALLY SWEDEN CLASSIFICATION, SECTION SIX:
1. Tom Kristensson / Henrik Appelskog 2:41:05.4 2. Roland Poom /Ken Jarveoja + 1:44.0 3. Jan Solans / Mauro Barreiro + 3:44.9 4. Tom Williams / Phil Hall +6:06.2 5. Sean Johnston / Alex Kihurani +11:37.7 6. Enrico Oldrati / Elia de Guio +13:08.3 7. Martins Sesks / Krisjanis Caune +14:47.5 8. Fabrizio Zaldivar / Fernando Mussano +22:51.5 9. Dennis Rådström / Johan Johansson +25:15.3 10. Ken Torn / Kuldar Sikk +25:27.0 11. Julius Tannert / Helmar Hinneberg +42:27.2 12. Nico Knacker / Tobias Braun +44:48.6 13. Raul Badiu / Gabriel Lazar +54:00.3
Press release Junior WRC
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