Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Virves leads by less than one second on Croatia Rally
aprile 23, 2022 - FIA Junior WRC

Virves leads by less than one second on Croatia Rally

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

For the first time since his explosive debut in 2020 #robertvirves leads overnight in #fiajuniorwrc after a tense day of action on #croatiarally.
 
The conditions that crews faced on the opening day were described by seasoned WRC drivers as the most difficult they had ever experienced which meant the Junior WRC crews were set for an intense day.
 
The pace of Junior WRC drivers has been so high throughout Friday that on more than one occasion Jon Armstrong, Sami Pajari and #robertvirves each posted times good enough for the top-five in WRC2 in a WRC3-spec Fiesta Rally3!
 
Jon Armstrong claimed the opening stage win of the day thanks to a notional time due to catching a car ahead of him. The Northern Irishman ran away with the lead in the morning loop but things would take a dramatic turn in the afternoon. 
 
The drama soon hit Juniors in the morning with William Creighton becoming the first causality of the testing conditions, hitting and bending his rear right suspension, forcing him to retire for the day. 
 
Armstrong ended the morning loop with a lead in excess of 45 seconds, picking up two stage wins along the way with some extraordinary pace although it wasn’t all plain sailing as the crew went spinning over the flying finish of stage four. 
 
His hard work would soon come undone in the afternoon loop after picking up a puncture on stage five and another on stage six to put Armstrong in fifth and handing Estonia’s #robertvirves the lead. Armstrong’s dramas weren’t over with his day hitting further lows on the seventh stage of the day when he veered off the road, crashing into some trees and bringing  his day to an early end. 
 
Jean-Baptiste Franceschi made steady progress throughout the first day of his return to international rallying, the Frenchman was initially off the pace in the opening half of the day. By the end of the day, Franceschi was challenging for stage wins, coming up just one tenth short on the final stage of the day but ended the day fourth overall without issue.
 
Kenyan sensation McRae Kimathi faced an equally daunting challenge for the opening of #croatiarally as he did for #rally Sweden having never actually competed on a sealed surface #event before. Kimathi was able to finish every stage on Friday while bringing on his speed and ability with every stage. 
 
The fight at the front of Junior WRC is shaping up to be an explosive one for Saturday as a trio of Scandinavian hot shots are all fully focussed on taking top honours. Lauri Joona started #croatiarally off with some impressive speed, managing to get a hold of the tricky conditions and ended the day third, less than 20 seconds from the lead. 
 
2021 Junior WRC Champion Sami Pajari took an impressive five Wolf Stage Win Points on Friday including a clean sweep of the afternoon loop while in the hunt for the lead. Pajari struggled in the opening loop, dropping as far as 25 seconds behind Virves at one point, but by the final stage of the day Pajari had brought that gap to a slender seven tenths of a second. 
 
The man of the moment in Junior WRC on #croatiarally right now is #robertvirves, who hasn’t led overnight in Junior WRC since his impressive debut on #rally Estonia in 2020. Virves also has managed to control the lead of the #rally so far without taking a single stage win and has kept his nose clean to deliver consistently fast stage times.
 
Croatia #rally continues for Junior WRC on Saturday with another set of eight stages where it is expected a mouth-wateringly unpredictable battle for the lead will unfold.
 
Maciej Woda, #fiajuniorwrcchampionship Manager, said: Today has been an incredibly difficult day that has tested some of the best drivers in the world and I have been very impressed with the speed that the crews have displayed. #robertvirves is currently 17th overall on the #rally which considering we are only one day in is a remarkable achievement when you consider he is in an entry-level four-wheel-drive car. The conditions have commanded high levels of skill and concentration today and have caught drivers out too, Jon looked to be walking away with the #rally in the first loop and then a series of bad luck and a mistake soon unravelled all of that. I think it will be exciting to see how the fight for Wolf Stage Win Points unfolds with a variety of drivers on different strategies now in order to get to the end of the #rally or push for the category victory.”
 
Robert Virves, #fiajuniorwrc #rally Leader, said: We have to be happy. It's our first time in such conditions and unfortunately, we had a puncture on the last one. Let's see how the conditions are tomorrow with the cutting. I have no experience of these kinds of cuts, so it's not making it easy.”

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