•Following stage wins in Monte-Carlo and Portugal, the Italian Simone Tempestini confirmed his early season form as he took his maiden win in the class at Rally Poland.•He finished ahead of Welshman Osian Pryce and the Finn Henri Haapamaki.•After the three first events of the 2015 calendar, Quentin Gilbert remains the championship leader, ahead of Simone Tempestini and Henri Haapamaki.
One of the nine FIA Junior WRC competitors taking part in Poland, Pierre-Louis Loubet was forced to retire on Thursday. Caught out during the shakedown, he went off the road and was unable to start the first stage.
The rally got underway on Thursday evening, with a super special stage on the Mikolajki Arena track. Quentin Gilbert set the fastest time, ahead of Henri Haapamaki and Simone Tempestini.
On Friday morning, the rhythm changed. On incredibly fast roads, British driver Osian Pryce showed off his turn of speed. In his DS 3 R3-MAX, he went fastest on Gorklo (SS2) at an average speed of over 115kph to grab the overall lead in the class.
With another two stage wins, Pryce dominated this opening morning, before being held up by a driver on the long SS5 test (39.12km). Simone Tempestini therefore moved into first place ahead of Quentin Gilbert and Osian Pryce, who trailed by around twenty seconds.
In the afternoon, Osian Pryce went back on the attack. Two stage wins enabled him to reclaim the class lead, whilst Quentin Gilbert (jammed gearbox) and Simone Tempestini (power steering issue) completed the podium places at that point, ahead of the Finn Henri Haapamaki, the French pair of Jean-René Perry and Matthieu Margaillan, the Swiss Federico Della Casa and the Abu Dhabi driver, Mohammed Al Mutawaa.
Forced to retire on SS10 with a broken clutch, Quentin Gilbert left Osian Pryce and Simone Tempestini to battle it out for the win. The Welshman increased his lead throughout Saturday’s leg, before being slowed up by a misfiring engine. Ahead of Sunday’s short final leg, Tempestini held a minute lead over Osian Pryce and Henri Haapamaki. Matthieu Margaillan, Federico Della Casa and Mohammed Al Mutawaa completed the standings, whilst Jean-René Perry was forced to retire halfway through the day with sunstroke.
On Sunday morning, Osian Pryce again topped the timesheets on both stages. However, Simone Tempestini managed his lead to claim his maiden FIA Junior WRC win. Osian Pryce and Henri Haapamaki took the two other podium places. Matthieu Margaillan, Federico Della Casa, Mohammed Al Mutawaa and Quentin Gilbert also finished in the points.
With three events completed, Quentin Gilbert now has 56 points in the championship standings. He leads Simone Tempestini by 11 points and Henri Haapamaki by 26 points. In the Nations Trophy, France leads the standings, ahead of Italy and Finland.
Next up for the FIA Junior WRC drivers and teams is Rally Finland on 30 July-2 August.
QUOTE, UNQUOTE
Simone Tempestini: “I’m very happy to win in Poland. I love the fast stages we have had throughout the event here. The team has done a fantastic job. We did our best to win and it worked out for us. The goal will be the same in Finland. It’s another very fast rally, although the road surface is different.”
Osian Pryce: “We showed that we had the pace to fight for the win. We were near the front on every stage. It’s very encouraging for the next few events. I’m just a bit disappointed not to have won. I feel slightly frustrated, but then again if you’d offered me second place before the start of the rally, I’d have bitten your hand off!”
Henri Haapamaki: “I was fairly cautious on some stages. At the start of the rally, I felt that I wasn’t driving at the level I know I’m capable of. Simone Tempestini and Osian Pryce were very quick. This second podium finish is a good result before we tackle Rally Finland.”
PROVISIONAL OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Simone Tempestini / Matteo Chiarcossi 2:47:32.32. Osian Pryce / Dale Furniss +47.93. Henri Haapamaki / Marko Salminen +1:42.24. Matthieu Margaillan / Fabrice Gordon +4:16.15. Federico Della Casa / Domenico Pozzi +10:07.06. Mohammed Al-Mutawaa / Stephen McAuley +17:47.27. Quentin Gilbert / Renaud Jamoul +49:27.0
FASTEST TIMES
Osian Pryce, 9 – Simone Tempestini, 6 – Quentin Gilbert and Henri Haapamaki, 1.
LEADERS
SS1: Quentin Gilbert
SS2 to SS4: Osian Pryce
SS5 to SS8: Simone Tempestini
SS9 to SS15: Osian Pryce
SS16 to SS19 (finish): Simone Tempestini
FIA JUNIOR WRC STANDINGS1. Quentin Gilbert 56 points2. Simone Tempestini 45 points3. Henri Haapamaki 30 points4. Ole Christian Veiby 25 points5. Christian Riedemann, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Osian Pryce 18 points8. Federico Della Casa 16 points9. Jean-René Perry and Matthieu Margaillan 12 points11. Yohan Rossel 10 points12. Alessandro Re, Kornel Lukacs and Mohammed Al-Mutawaa 8 points15. Charlotte Dalmasso 5 points16. Daniel McKenna 4 points
NATIONS TROPHY 1. France 62 points2. Italy 49 points3. Finland 33 points4. Norway 30 points5. Switzerland 20 points6. 4 Germany and Great Britain 18 points7. Hungary 16 points8. Ireland and United Arab Emirates 8 points
