FIA WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS
Spanish driver Daniel Sola has won the latest round of the FIA Junior
World Rally Championship, the Rallye Deutschland. After three varied days
of competition on a mixture of narrow vineyard roads and concrete tracks
normally used to train tank drivers, Sola and his navigator Alex Romani
brought their Citroen Saxo to this afternoon's finish in Trier almost 40
seconds clear of the next 1600cc car and almost three minutes ahead of the
next Junior WRC-registered contender, Andrea Dallavilla. Dallavilla set
the initial pace on Friday's stages, which were held on narrow vineyard
roads in the Mosel region. The Italian's Citroen Saxo moved into the lead
during the first two stages but in the third, he hit problems. He had to
stop and change a wheel, and the resulting time loss all but destroyed his
chances of victory, leaving him to charge up the leaderboard in search of
valuable Junior WRC points.
Dallavilla's problems handed the advantage to Ulsterman Niall McShea and
the Opel Corsa driver maintained that advantage until the end of the day.
He arrived back in Trier on Friday evening with a narrow 10-second lead
over local Citroen Saxo driver Sven Haaf, with Ford Puma driver Francois
Duval in third after he'd been slowed by a misfire. McShea's lead was
short-lived, however, for he received a 20-second road penalty after he'd
had to fix an alternator problem on a road section.
Saturday took crews to the daunting, bumpy and dirty concrete roads of the
Baumholder military ranges and in changeable conditions, the leaderboard
was turned on its head. Haaf was first to falter when the engine on his
Saxo expired in the day's second stage. By then, Duval was already in
front. He'd picked the right tyre choice and vaulted past both Haaf and
McShea in the opening test. McShea's challenge lasted only two stages
further than Haaf's, for the Briton rolled the Corsa heavily and retired
in SS14.
Further fastest times from Duval on Saturday afternoon were enough for him
to build a useful lead - more than 40 seconds - with just the final day's
action remaining. Sola, who'd lost time with a spin and poor tyre choices,
held second, while the fast-recovering Dallavilla was now in third, albeit
more than three minutes adrift.
Sunday started well for Duval as he set fastest time on the day's opening
stage but in the second test, he was caught out by mud on the road and
slid into an earth bank, flattening his Puma's exhaust. More than five
minutes were lost before he could continue, and he subsequently retired
two stages from the finish with electrical problems.
Duval's retirement handed the lead to Sola and he consolidated his
advantage over the closing stages to score his second Junior WRC victory
of the season. "I'm very happy," he said. "My aim on all of the rounds is
to finish and get some experience, but here we've had a win as well, which
is like a bonus. The next round in Sanremo will be difficult because there
are a lot of fast Italian drivers in the series and I'm sure they'll be
quick at their home event."
Dallavilla claimed second in Germany and his now Sola's closest rival in
the series standings, four points behind. Local driver Niki Schelle gave
Suzuki's Ignis its first podium Junior WRC finish in third, with Mirco
Baldacci, Martin Rowe and Kosti Katajamaki completing the points-scoring
places.
The FIA World Junior Rally Championship moves back to more traditional
asphalt terrain for its next round, the Rallye Sanremo on September 20-22.
-fia-
