53 RallyRACC, WRC3 + FIA Junior: Nil Solans takes it all!

11/10/2017

Nil Solans, WRC3 Champion since the last Rally Germany, arrived at his home event with the possibility to clinch the FIA Junior title as well, if he managed to take the win of three stages, which he did on the second day at the RallyRACC.  Solans/Ibáñez were more than happy to become the third Spanish crew to take the Junior Championship after Dani Solà in 2002 and Dani Sordo in 2005, though with the difference that the driver, born in Matadepera, will get the chance to take part in 7 WRC rallies in the WRC2 class in 2018, at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta R5 by M-Sport as a reward.

Of the 6 WRC3 entrants, 5 were FIA Junior WRC entrants as well. The only crew not scoring for the class, which is reserved for Ford Fiesta R2T cars, were Raphaël Astier/Frédéric Vauclare from France. Nil Solans tried to decide the FIA Junior Championship already on the first day, but he was only able to clock two fastest times on the 6 stages run on gravel, while the other stage victories went to Denis Radström/Johan Johansson, who won the first stage and to Nicolas Ciamin/Thibault De la Haye, who won the remaining three. However, Ciamin went off the road and damaged the suspension, so that Solans finished the first rally day on top of the standings, with an advantage of 41''2 over Terry Folb/Christopher Guieu, getting closer to his target.

On Saturday, with stages run on asphalt like on Sunday, Folb won the first special, but Solans took the second and the Junior title, and, although Ciamin won the next special, the Spaniard consolidated his lead at the end of the day after winning the following four special stages. Finishing in this position would give him the chance to race two more rallies with M-Sport's Ford Fiesta R5 in 2018 (he already had 5 guaranteed), and so he did, eventually winning the RallyRACC after taking the victory of three out of the six stages raced on Sunday.

The WRC3 overall victory went to Nil Solans as well, despite the 11 asphalt stages out of 13 won by Raphaël Astier, but the time he had lost on the gravel stages was decisive to hinder him from making it up on the following days, thus having to settle for the second overall position.

Final Classification WRC3 and FIA Junior at the 53 RallyRACC
1-Nil Solans/Miquel Ibàñez (Ford Fiesta R2T, 1º FIA Júnior), 3h02'30''5
2-Raphaël Astier/Frédéric Vauclare (Peugeot 208 R2), + 1'04''7
3-Terry Folb/Christopher Guieu (Ford Fiesta R2T, 2º FIA Júnior), + 1'41''2
4-Julius Tannert/Jürgen Heigl (Ford Fiesta R2T, 3º FIA Júnior), + 4'46''5
5-Dennis Radström/Johan Johansson (Ford Fiesta R2T, 4º FIA Júnior), + 18'45''8
6-Nicolas Ciamin/Thibault De la Haye (Ford Fiesta R2T, 5º FIA Júnior), + 20'56''1

Provisional Classification WRC3
1-Nil Solans (Ford), 144 points
2-Nicolas Ciamin (Ford), 88 points
3-Raphaël Astier (Peugeot), 86 points
4-Julius Tannert (Ford), 82 points
5-Denis Radström (Ford), 61 points

Final Classification FIA Junior
1-Nil Solans (Ford), 141 points
2-Nicolas Ciamin, (Ford), 118 points
3-Julius Tannert (Ford), 75 points
4-Terry Folb (Ford), 73 points
5-Denis Radström (Ford), 64 points