Royal Rally of Scandinavia: Vaher and Jansen hold on after SS8

The young Estonian crew continued their momentum throughout the day and finished this first real stage at the top of the overall standings. This evening, they are ahead of Teemu Suninen - Antti Haapala (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) and Mikko Heikkilä - Kristian Temonen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2).

At just 19 years old, Jaspar Vaher continues to surprise. He won his first career race in early May on the Rally Ciudad de Pozoblanco in Spain, the Estonian driver remains in the lead of the Royal Rally of Scandinavia this evening, the second round of the European Rally Championship in Sweden. Teamed with his compatriot Rait Jansen, the crew is officially supported by Toyota Gazoo Racing has built up a lead of around ten seconds over the other competitors in the ERC1 class, which includes the Rally2 cars entered in this round of the continental championship. At the end of this first full day of racing, and after dominating both the qualifying stage and SS1 on Friday, May 22nd, the two drivers are leading the rally with an 8,8-second advantage over Teemu Suninen – Antti Haapala (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) and a 14,3-second lead over Mikko Heikkilä – Kristian Temonen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2).

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High-profile freelancers and French nationals at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia

As often in ERCThe gaps tonight are minimal. Martins Sesks and Renars Francis (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), competing in Sweden as a one-off, are currently in 4th position, 3,2 seconds off the podium. Behind them, Isak Reiersen and Stefan Gustavsson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) are just 2,7 seconds behind the Latvians. The gap has widened slightly beyond the top five, with Frank Tore Larsen – Lars-Håkon Lundgreen (Volkswagen Polo R5 GTi), 6th, 24,6 seconds behind Reiersen and Gustavsson. On the French side, Tristan Charpentier – Loris Pascaud (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) are provisionally in 19th position, while the other crew entered in the top category, Pierre Ragues – Julien Pesenti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), are currently ranked 22nd. Finally, in ERC3, the category in which Lucas Zielinski and Ewen Leenhardt compete (Renault Clio Rally3), the two men had a great day, placing them currently in 4th position in the category, only 11,4 seconds from the podium.

Colins Crest, a key player in the Royal Rally of Scandinavia

Route based on the old stages of the Swedish Rally WRCThe Royal Rally of Scandinavia saw the return of the legendary Colins Crest hill (SS6 and SS8). However, the first run through this famous stage was not without incident. The official Stellantis Motorsport crew of William Creighton and Liam Regan (Citroën C3 Rally2) were forced to retire on this stage after hitting a rock and breaking a suspension. The Irish duo were then in 23rd position in the provisional overall standings. Another pairing forced to retire on this stage was Adam Grahn and Christoffer Bäck (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), due to a fuel pump failure. SS6 also saw punctures for the leaders, Jaspar Vaher and Rait Jansen, as well as for Simone Tempestini and Francesca Maria Maior (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2). Eight more stages remain to be run on Sunday, May 24.