21.08.2003  FIAT PUNTO DRIVERS STRUGGLE AS JUNIOR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP HITS FINLAND

The Junior Championship came to a rally where tradition says the event is always won by Scandanavian drivers and foreign pilots have no chance of victory. With this in mind in the Super1600 class Kosti Katamajäki and Daniel Carlsson were considered the favourite players of the 2WD Super1600 cars. 

There are however some Junior drivers, who can play starring roles, including the French rising ace Brice Tirabassi and his speedy Renault Clio Super1600 prepared by the Oreca Team as well as Mirco Baldacci, the San Marinese driver with Hitec Fiat Punto Super1600. 

After the stages of the first leg, the pattern unfolded: it's was between the Suzuki driver Daniel Carlsson and Brice Tirabassi, although several drivers turned in best stage times, like the Briton Guy Wilks, the San Marinese Mirco Baldacci, and the local driver Kosti Katajamäki. Regular JWRC frontrunner Daniel Carlsson in the Suzuki Ignis bagged five of the first nine stage wins, but a puncture on SS8 knocked him off target and the Swede ended the first leg only fourth 1m20.1sec off Tirabassi, who became the leader. 

During the first leg Mirco Baldacci had a hard landing on special stage six after one of the infamous big jumps and retired with a suspension failure on his Fiat Punto. On the previous stage Cecchettini in a Fiat Punto entered by the Balbosca team, retired for similar reasons and the only Fiat Punto left in the battle were the cars from Top Run Racing, driven by Massimo Ceccato and the Italian-argentinian Marcos Ligato. Both were unhappy with the set up of the Italian cars.

The second leg saw Daniel Carlsson impose himself after five consecutive best scratch times and regain the lead, also assisted by a puncture to Brice Tirabassi. The third Sunday leg saw most drivers consolidate their positions after two exceptionally tough days of rallying. Carlsson controlled his advantage over Renault driver Brice Tirabassi, while Guy Wilks finished third in his Ford Puma. Aava ended up fourth after moving ahead of Canellas on the opening stage of the day. 

There was bad luck for Ceccato who went off on SS22 and handed his seventh position to Ligato, the only Fiat driver to survive the events rigours. 

Daniel Carlsson cruised to his and Suzuki's first Junior World Rally Championship win. A measured drive through Sunday's final six stages ensured Carlsson his win. Tirabassi finished 56 seconds behind the Suzuki driver to increase his lead at the top of the JWRC standings while Guy Wilks rounded of an impressive Finnish debut with third overall. 

"It's fantastic to score the first Junior World Rally Championship for myself and for Suzuki," said Carlsson. "We've been close a couple of times before and to finally achieve the first victory is an amazing feeling." 

Tirabassi moves up to 28 points in the championship - 10 clear of his closest rival Carlsson - after his second place. 

"This result is extremely satisfying because it is very good for the championship," said Tirabassi. "I am looking forward to the rest of the season with optimism as we will be back on asphalt for two events." 

Wilks couldn't hide his delight with his third place on his first visit to Finland. 

"I am simply chuffed to bits," he said. "Our last podium was third in the Rally of Turkey, but we were definitely not as competitive there as we have been here. It has been a simply fantastic weekend and I am so delighted with this result. I have never been to Finland at all before but I can tell you I will be looking forward to our next trip here!" 

by Marco Tenuti
 

ENTRY LIST SPECIAL STAGE TIMES POSITIONS AT END OF EACH LEG FINAL POSITIONS

All reports are provided courtesy of PuntoPower ( www.puntopower.com ) & the Junior World Rally Championship ( www.jwrc.com ). Photos courtesy Photocris.

©2003 text: PuntoPower/JWRC, images: Photocris.