Press release
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february 13, 2023 - FIA Junior WRC
Pellier leads after intense day of action
Laurent Pellier leads Junior #wrc after snatching the lead from a faltering William Creighton.
Saturday was an eventful day in Junior #wrc, seeing the top-three positions rotate numerous times.
Creighton started Saturday with a strong lead over Frenchman Pellier, the Irishman continued his good work taking the opening stage win of the day extending his lead over to almost 50 seconds.
Gregoire Munster took his maiden Junior #wrc stage win on stage nine followed up by a fastest time on stage 10. His streak would not last and at the start of the afternoon loop he hurtled into a snowbank, losing over two minutes in the process, dropping to fourth.
Diego Dominguez continued delivering top-four times on Saturday, taking advantage of Munster’s blunder, he found himself in a comfortable podium position at the end of the day.
Failing to set a fastest time in the morning loop, Pellier began his fight-back in the afternoon with a fastest time on stage 12, 8.4 seconds faster than leader Creighton.
One stage later and disaster for Creighton. The Irishman had to stop in stage to fix down an open bonnet which flipped into his windscreen at speed, smashing his windscreen. The small but costly error lost Creighton 51.1 seconds, handing Frenchman Pellier the lead.
Pellier headed to stage 14 with a 10 second lead, however all was not over as the Frenchman had to hold off a fired-up Creighton which he had so far failed to do. The Frenchman rose to the challenge though, outpacing the field on the final two stages to deliver another two Wolf Stage Win Points and extend his advantage to 19.7 seconds with just three stages left to run on Sunday.
Despite a difficult start to #rallysweden, #raulhernandez has showed encouraging progression with his pace and stage times throughout the #rally, culminating in the 21-year-old Spaniard ending Saturday fifth in Junior #wrc.
Elsewhere #eamonnkelly was able to restart the #rally following a crash on Friday and underlined his potential with a top three time on stage 12.
Maciej Woda, #fiajuniorwrc Championship Manager, said: “We had three different stage winners today and a constantly changing set of podium positions which was very exciting to witness. #laurentpellier is delivering a stunning performance, considering he has never driven on snow and ice and is learning the Fiesta Rally3 he really is highlighting his talents. His performance on the last two stages were particularly impressive. I do feel for William Creighton though, he had built up an impressive margin and to lose it for such a simple issue is a bitter pill to swallow. The game is far from over though and I am sure both drivers will give everything they’ve got tomorrow and take it down to the wire.”
Junior #wrc #rally Leader, #laurentpellier, said: “With more understanding of the new car and surface for sure we can push a little bit more, we extended our lead this evening to almost 20 seconds. Now we are thinking about the victory. We did not expect this for our first #rally, it’s very bad luck for William because he was doing a very great job and is still doing so. We will see, tomorrow is still long and a mistake is possible from everybody including ourselves.”
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