ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review
Pech battled hard to hold on to his lead but saw Kubica clawing back time on every stage. He blasted
through the stage over eight seconds faster than
anyone else and moved into the lead, becoming the
fourth leader of the rally. Pech and Baumschlager
remained within striking distance though, just six
and twenty seconds down respectively.
Trouble for Kubica
Things did not get off to a good start for Kubica
on the final day. Brake problems cost him time and
jumping the start of stage twelve didn’t help either.
Pech opened up a ten second lead that he slightly
increased as the day progressed. Behind the two
up front Raimund Baumschlager felt happy enough
to be right up there with them. “It was really good
driving I guess for my age, I am 54 now!” He had
pushed just a bit too hard though and after three
‘moments’ he decided enough was enough and
backed off, settling for third rather than pushing
and maybe not finishing the rally at all.
Final stage thriller
After another day of close competition, filled with
numerous small moments for all front runners,
Vaclav held a 11.8 second lead over Robert Kubica going into the final stage. As darkness set in
again it was another tough tyre choice. Most drivers opted for winter tyres or slicks as most of the
ice had disappeared. Kubica though took a different approach and fitted his car with two studded
tyres. Nobody really expected this gamble to pay
off though. Coming through the stage unscaved,
Pech was happy enough to complete the difficult
event, but he wasn’t among the fastest drivers and
Kubica was still in the stage behind him. Kubica
blasted off into the darkness with his diagonal tyre
set-up and quickly ran into trouble. After a couple of
kilometers he just hit a little pole that snapped one
of his lightpods. The strong lamp dangled along at
the front of the car and at times shone straight into
Kubica’s face. This caused a minute lack of focus
and Kubica instantly found himself skidding though
a field at high speed. After this wake-up call Kubica
really dug in. As fireworks lit the area around the
roads Kubica pushed like there was no tomorrow.
He completed the stage a massive 25 seconds
quicker than Pech. At the stage finish there was
even some doubt as to whether the timing was correct, he couldn’t have gone that fast right? Well,
he actually did. When the confirmation came and
Kubica was jubilantly congratulated on his spectacular final stage performance and first ERC win,
he remained cool, very cool “Yes thank you, it was
OK”. Adding later
“For sure it’s very nice to be here as a winner but
our priority was to get as much experience and information from this rally as possible.”
It seems Kubica is a fast learner, gaining experience and immediately applying it to win rallies. As
impressive as he was, it leads us to one final, rather
scary question: Just how fast will this guy go once
he is done learning?
33/40
Vaclav Pech did not make life easier for Kubica, but in the end had to bow his head to Beppo Harrach surprised everyone by powering his group N Mitsubish Lancer Evo IX to
the determined Pole. third.