WALES RALLY GB (12-15/11/2015) – FINISH
After finishing third in Monte-Carlo and Finland, the Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby claimed his maiden win in the FIA Junior WRC at Wales Rally GB.The Frenchmen Terry Folb and Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the top three at this, the final round of the 2015 season.Quentin Gilbert is the 2015 FIA Junior WRC Champion, with Ole Christian Veiby runner-up and Terry Folb third. Gilbert, Veiby and Simone Tempestini dominated the WRC 3 standings in their DS 3 R3-MAXs.In Wales only to try and wrap up the WRC 3 title, Quentin Gilbert was not eligible to score any points in the FIA Junior WRC at this, the seventh and final round of the season.
Having already won the category, he let Simone Tempestini, Ole Christian Veiby and Terry Folb fight it out for the two remaining podium places.
Ole Christian Veiby grabbed the early lead in the FIA Junior WRC after the first stage, contested on decidedly muddy Welsh roads. On Hafren, he finished ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet, Dean Raftery, Chris Ingram and Simone Tempestini. Forced to change a water pump drive belt on this opening test, Terry Folb lost over eleven minutes.
Ole Christian Veiby went quickest throughout the rest of the morning’s stages, followed by Pierre-Louis Loubet. Dean Raftery – who had been running third – had to retire after rolling his car on SS3. In the afternoon, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Simone Tempestini were next to run into trouble. The Frenchman ripped off a wheel and the Italian suffered a broken brake cable. Ole Christian Veiby ended day with a two-minute lead over second-placed Chris Ingram and was more than six minutes clear of the Belgian William Wagner in third.
The race then took a new turn on day two. After rejoining under Rally 2 regulations, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Simone Tempestini set the leading times, often joined at the front by Terry Folb. Whilst Mohammed Al Mutawaa – fourth at the time – went off, Ole Christian Veiby controlled his pace at the front.
On SS11, William Wagner was the next driver forced to give up hopes of a podium after losing a bolt from the gearbox mounting. The night stages did not alter the order of the standings. Ole Christian Veiby ended the leg with a three-minute lead over Chris Ingram and was more than fourteen minutes clear of third-placed Terry Folb.
With less than forty kilometres left to go, the crews found even more miserable conditions on Sunday morning, with torrential rain and high winds. Pierre-Louis Loubet, Ole Christian Veiby and William Wagner shared the last few stage wins, whilst Chris Ingram – second at the time – and Mohammed Al Mutawaa ran into terminal trouble on a watersplash during the road section before SS18.
Ole Christian Veiby went on to secure his maiden win, finishing over seventeen minutes ahead of Terry Folb, who ended the rally soaked and with no windscreen, after a problem with his wipers. Almost twenty minutes adrift, Pierre-Louis Loubet claimed his second podium finish in the FIA Junior WRC at just 18 years old. William Wagner rounded off the standings.
In the FIA WRC 3 championship, Ole Christian Veiby also claimed victory, as Quentin Gilbert finished third. Thanks to this result, Quentin Gilbert added the WRC 3 crown to his FIA Junior WRC title, finishing ahead of Ole Christian Veiby. Third place in each category went to Terry Folb (JWRC) and Simone Tempestini (WRC 3), respectively.
QUOTE, UNQUOTE
Ole Christian Veiby: “This is a fantastic result. We have had what you might call a perfect rally. The conditions were really difficult with a lot of water, but we managed to keep the car on the road without making any mistakes. Finishing first at the final race of the season was our main goal. And we have finished as runners-up in the FIA Junior WRC and the WRC 3! It has been a successful season for us.”
Terry Folb: “The rally got off to a very bad start for us, because we lost eleven minutes changing the water pump drive belt on the opening stage. We then decided to focus on getting experience and enjoying ourselves. The engine overheated and we finished today’s leg with no windscreen after a problem with the wipers in the rain. I think we have experienced a proper, genuinely difficult Wales Rally GB. Every time, we had to find solutions to make it to the end. Finishing as runner-up and third in the championship is an excellent result after a tough start to the season. We have improved a lot and gathered a lot of experience this year.”
Pierre-Louis Loubet: “We learned a lot during this really difficult event. We were very fast with several stage wins. I have picked up more experience which will be important for the rest of my career.”
PROVISIONAL OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Ole Christian Veiby / Andres Jaeger 3:35:38.02. Terry Folb / Franck Le Floch +17:34.53. Pierre-Louis Loubet / Vincent Landais +19:15.44. William Wagner / Kevin Parent +40:09.3
FASTEST TIMES
Ole Christian Veiby, 7 – Pierre-Louis Loubet, 5 – Simone Tempestini, 3 – Terry Folb, 2 – Chris Ingram and William Wagner, 1
LEADERS
SS1 to SS19 (finish): Ole Christian Veiby
FIA JUNIOR WRC STANDINGS
1. Quentin Gilbert 131 points2. Ole Christian Veiby 83 points3. Terry Folb 66 points4. Simone Tempestini 62 points5. Henri Haapamaki 48 points6. Pierre-Louis Loubet 43 points7. Jean-René Perry 32 points8. Federico Della Casa and Mohammed Al-Mutawaa 28 points10. Yohan Rossel 25 points11. Christian Riedemann and Osian Pryce 18 points13. Matthieu Margaillan and William Wagner 12 points15. Alessandro Re and Kornel Lukacs 8 points17. Jari Huttunen 6 points18. Charlotte Dalmasso 5 points19. Daniel McKenna 4 points
NATIONS TROPHY
1. France 155 points2. Norway 98 points3. Italy 75 points4. Finland 51 points5. Switzerland 42 points6. United Arab Emirates 35 points7. Germany and Great Britain 18 points9. Hungary 16 points10. Belgium 15 points11. Ireland 8 points
Subject to publication of the official results by the FIA.
