Jan Solans has one hand firmly on the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Championship after a drama-filled day that saw Tom Kristensson suffer a major setback in his bid for championship glory.
American Sean Johnston is set to record the best result of his career with a podium position and collect fourth in the championship in a major upset, displacing Roland Poom who was fourth heading into Wales Rally GB.
Home favourite Tom Williams ended his day prematurely on the opening stage as he sent his M-Sport Fiesta R2T rolling out of a sweeping right hander eventually coming to rest in a treeline bordering the stage.
Kristensson closed the gap to Solans by 4.1 seconds on the opening stage of Saturday keeping his championship hopes alive while Rådström bounced back from a disappointing Friday to take the first stage win of the day.
Solans struck back on SS12, doubling his lead to 24 seconds and earning an additional championship point while Kristensson finished the stage fourth as Roland Poon delivered a top-three stage time.
SS13 was where Kristensson’s championship fight fell apart. He suffered a puncture 10.5 km into the stage losing three minutes and three seconds thanks to debris trapped in the wheel that needed changing.
Solans went on to cruise through the rest of the day’s stages thanks to his sizeable cushion over his Swedish rival who immediately regrouped after his puncture. Kristensson was determined to continue and be the only driver to finish on the podium at every round of the 2019 Junior WRC Championship.
If Kristensson were to finish in second, the position he currently occupies, he would win the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Rookie Award and earn €15,000 to put towards his 2020 Junior WRC campaign.
Despite crashing out of the championship race early in the day on Friday, Dennis Rådström returned to fine form on Saturday, taking a total of five stage wins and a clean sweep of stage wins in the afternoon loop.
The fight for the final top five positions in the rally began with Fabrizio Zaldivar in fourth and Enrico Oldrati fifth. By the time of the tyre fitting zone after SS13 the pair had maintained position but by the conclusion of the second pass on Sweet Lamb, the order began to change. Oldrati suffered a puncture, losing in excess of four minutes, promoting American rookie Ryan Booth to the final top five position. Stage 16 saw Booth relegated to sixth just as quickly as he was promoted due to an electrical issue seeing Oldrati reclaim fifth position. The drama continued on the following stage when Zaldivar left the stage and found himself in a ditch, with no spectators around to help recover him, he retired from the stage. Remarkably he only lost one position by the conclusion of the day and will resume restart Wales Rally GB on Sunday in fifth with Oldrati now occupying fourth.
Jan Solans said: « We are now in a very comfortable lead so we need to take this car to the finish line and try to avoid mistakes. We need to keep going and focussed on our own rally without making mistakes and arrive at the finish line on the last stage tomorrow. The championship is in my hands now so it’s a little bit of pressure, but we just need to keep our concentration. »
Press release FIA Junior WRC
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