The reigning WRC2 class champion of the World Rally Championship, Emil Lindholm, experienced a big disappointment in the Swedish World Rally Championship on Friday. Teemu Suninen had technical problems.
Teemu Suninen blames the mechanic for ruining the race weekend. EPA/AOP
Emil Lindholm went in search of a top result in his opening race of the season with Skoda’s new Rally2 racer. Lindholm took over the top spot in the second class in the morning’s first special test, but suffered a setback in the very next section.
Lindholm used his car in the hunt, which ended up being a big loss of time.
– Last year, it was possible to take that place with a little effort, but not clearly this year. We also came to know now, Lindholm stated.
– The car hit a bank and basically it was on the road the whole time, but it blew so much snow into the air cleaner that it had to be stopped and cleaned.
Lindholm is only in 11th place in the class, a good two minutes away from the top, with two driving days still left.
– It was quite a flat feeling. It took about a minute and a half, and there’s no way you can catch that by driving. Let’s try to drive and get as many points as possible.
Ahead of Lindholm on the results list is a Hyundai driver Teemu Suninen, who ran into a special problem with a Brattby speedster driven after daycare. Before that, Suninen had been involved in the top fight in the class.
– We had a really good rally and a really good result. Then there was a French mechanic. Or the team, Suninen sighed.
When leaving the service, the mechanics had not done their job properly, which is why Suninen fell two minutes away from the lead. Hyundai’s WRC2 team is backed by the French 2C Competition.
– There were no turbo hoses in place, Suninen regretted, who had to drive through the section without a turbo.
– Otherwise, my driving has turned out well. Competitors at the top go pretty hard with new cars. Especially on fast roads, the ride doesn’t seem to be enough. On the other hand, a suitably technical road goes nicely.
Friday’s Finnish name in the WRC2 class was somewhat surprising Sami Pajari, who will compete for the first time with the new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car. At the top of the class, thank you Oliver Solbergbut Pajari is handsomely second, 13 seconds away from Solberg. Jari Huttunen on the other hand, the older Skoda is third (+35.1) ahead of the Norwegian Be Christian Veiby and Lauri Joonaa.
– I could assume that Sami drives hard. He has toured this series, but of course he now has his first full season in a Rally2 car. It’s nice to see that there is a lot of noise at the top, said Lindholm, who is driving with Pajar’s team mate.