Second place for Opel Junior Calle Carlberg at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia. Timo Schulz finishes fifth in the third round of the Junior European Rally Championship. Double victory for the Corsa Rally4 at the gravel spectacle in Sweden.
The ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team has clinched another podium finish in the third round of the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC). The 23-year-old Swede Calle Carlberg and his Norwegian co-driver Jørgen Eriksen finished second behind compatriot and brand colleague Mille Johansson in the Opel Corsa Rally4 entered by Stohl Racing. As a result, last year’s champion of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” moved up to third place in the overall standings of the Junior European Championship. Carlberg’s teammate Timo Schulz finished fifth alongside co-driver Michael Wenzel.
During the 17 gravel special stages around Karlstad in the province of Värmland, including the Colin’s stage with the legendary jump over “Colin’s Crest”, Carlberg was always battling in the top three, moved up to second place after stage 12 and put pressure on the leading brand colleague right to the end. At the finish, Calle was satisfied with second place: “We had good speed here and found a good mix of attack and caution. The main goal in this demanding rally was, of course, to bring the Corsa Rally4 home in one piece. To be on the podium at my home event for the second time in a row is a great feeling. I enjoyed taking these legendary stages under my own wheels for the first time. And once again the car ran like clockwork. My thanks go to Jørgen and the entire Stohl team.”
The rally went somewhat less smoothly for the German team-mates in the Corsa Rally4 run by Waldherr Motor Sport (WMS). “We struggled to find a rhythm and confidence in the car on Friday,” admitted Timo Schulz. “We unfortunately hit a stone in SS4, which caused us to spin and suffer a slow puncture. After a major change to the vehicle set-up, we then got into our stride better and better.” With a second and two third places on Saturday afternoon, Schulz/Wenzel worked their way up to fifth place and also collected important points for the JERC table.
Schulz had already celebrated an important triumph on Thursday: The Opel junior won the Autoball duel against Scottish Peugeot driver Max McRae with a commanding 1:0 victory – as it turned out, a good omen for the opening match of the European Football Championship between Germany and Scotland the following day.
The fourth of six rounds of the Junior European Rally Championship will take place from July 5 to 7 as part of Rally Estonia. The competition around Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia, will also take place on gravel.
0 Comments