FIA Junior Rally Championship

Perfect Norwegian Junior Victory for Andersson

Swedish driver P-G Andersson (Suzuki) and co-driver Jonas Andersson drove a faultless rally to take victory on the opening round of the 2007 FIA Junior Rally Championship, Rally Norway, winning with a huge advantage of 7 minutes and 33 seconds. Second was reigning J-WRC Champion Patrik Sandell (S) in his all new Renault Clio R3 and another seven minutes further adrift was Estonian Urmo Aava (Suzuki) in third.

Feeling incredibly comfortable in the snow, Andersson made his rally look easy from the start, ending the first day alone with a cushion of almost two and half minutes. Aava and Sandell were his nearest rivals from the outset until the Estonian hit a tree stump on SS6 and he dropped from second to eighth.

Local Guest Driver Trond Svenkerud, entered into the rally by the event organisers in a Fiesta ST, stepped up to third until he found himself stuck on stage 11 for a minute behind Alessandro Bettega (I, Ford) who had blocked the road. Possibly more worrying was the Norwegian having to stop on the stage following to readjust his shoulder after it came out of its socket mid-stage.

In the meantime, Jaan Mölder (EE, Suzuki) briefly adopted third but a misted windscreen for the afternoon of leg two soon saw Aava fight back to reclaim a podium spot behind Sandell.

Mölder’s rally was difficult from the start as a failed intercom on the opening two stages saw his co-driver Katrin Becker read the pace notes with hand signals. A broken driveshaft 10km into SS3 then saw him complete the first day with only one wheel-drive. The misted windscreen on leg two and handling issues eventually saw him drive to the finish in fourth.

Aaron Burkart (D, Citroën) saw Vilius Rozukas (LT, Suzuki) off the road only 1.5km into the first stage which broke his concentration and the German struggled to find a rhythm thereafter on leg one. He dropped two minutes stuck in a snow bank on SS6 and lost more time in another snow bank in SS9 on the second day, so was happy to drive carefully on the final day to finish in fifth.

After a good night’s sleep, Svenkerud and his injured shoulder had a trouble-free final day to finish in sixth place, just ahead of Andrea Cortinovis (Renault) in seventh, equalling his best Junior result to date. The Italian was on his debut outing in a S1600 car and was not free of problems as he dropped four minutes on leg one stuck in a snow bank in SS6 and trying to overcome some set-up issues, was further held up behind Burkart on SS9 when he stopped to clear his radiator after a small off-road excursion.

Shaun Gallagher (IRL, Citroën) had a difficult start to the event as some issues with his tyres saw him losing studs too quickly. But things improved the next day, despite difficulties with set-up and the Irishman drove to take the final available point for eighth on his debut Junior outing. As the only driver of a C2-R2 who nominated this rally he scores maximum points in the Rookie Classification for his finish.

Reaching third at best on leg one, the reigning Fiesta Sporting Trophy International champion Bettega spent time making set-up changes throughout but a broken alternator before the start of the final stage on the second day saw him incur penalties that pushed him down the order. He restarted the final day, only to stop again with a broken gearbox, finishing ninth.

Kalle Pinomäki (FIN, Renault) had an eventful rally as he lost his brakes 10km into the first stage, broke the rear axle on SS8 then stopped about 10km before the end of SS9 after damaging his steering, seeing him incur penalties for not completing the remaining stages of the day. Having only tested the car for 50km on gravel ahead of the season start, the event was as much a test to familiarise himself with the new Clio R3 and despite not completing the last stage of the rally, he finished tenth.

A difficult event for both Aigar Pärs (EE, Suzuki) and Rozukas saw both drivers go off the road on SS1 and incur penalties for the rest of the day. Rozukas rolled end-over-end damaging the radiator, rear right suspension, windscreen and rear window and Pärs slid wide 10km into the stage, into a snow bank and its neighbouring ditch and the two cars had to wait for spectators to help them back on the stage. Both drivers incurred almost 40 minutes in time penalties on leg one alone. Rozukas continued carefully and almost trouble-free, to finish eleventh. Pärs saw himself stuck in a snowbank on SS9 and had another off-road excursion on SS13 but continued steadily to finish twelfth on the first WRC rally of his career.