Spain’s Jan Solans and Mauro Barreiro claimed their first FIA Junior WRC victory of the 2019 season on Rally Italia Sardegna, following a hard-fought battle with Sweden’s Dennis Rådström and Johan Johansson that went down to the wire at the wheel of their Ford Fiesta R2.

Solans and Rådström were a cut above the rest of the FIA Junior WRC field, sharing all of the 17 possible stage wins between them with twelve and five respectively.

Solans has now taken the championship lead with 71 points; it is largely thanks to his impressive haul of stage win points which come to a total of 19 so far this season – the most of any other driver this season. Rally Sweden winner Tom Kristensson sits second with 62 points and Rådström remains in third with 55 points.

The FIA Junior WRC field has been in impressive form all weekend as each crew demonstrated well thought out and mature drives on Rally Sardinia. It resulted in nine out of eleven cars crossing the ceremonial finish in Alghero – an achievement that underlines the depth of talent in the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Championship.

Solans won the opening Super Special Stage at the Ittiri Arena on Thursday evening, edging Rådström by just 0.1 seconds, however Friday was Rådström’s day. He was able to rely on his experience and asserted his dominance, ending Friday 16.8 seconds ahead of fellow Swede Tom Kristensson. The opening full day of rallying did not start according to plan for Solans after a series of mistakes across stages three and four saw him 29.5s off the lead at the start of SS7.

In stark contrast to Friday, Solans pushed hard from the get-go on Saturday morning, delivering five stage wins in a row, closing down the gap to Rådström from 17.4s to 1.2s by the conclusion of SS14. Rådström denied Solans of a perfect streak and claimed the final stage win of the day, extending his lead to 4.4s.

Sunday saw Solans regroup and repeat his Saturday form in the morning loop, adding another pair of stage wins to his name to claim the rally lead by just 1.3s. It set FIA Junior WRC up for a nail-biting conclusion in the Sardinian sun as the duelling duo headed into the final two stages of the rally.
Solans added another two seconds to his lead after SS18, starting the Wolf Power Stage with a 3.3s cushion to Rådström. In a final display of talent and speed Solans pushed through the last stage of the day, beat Rådström by 11.5 seconds to win the rally by 14.9s.

2019 Rally Italia Sardegna - FIA Junior WRC - Final Results

Retired:
Tom Williams / Phil Hall
Sean Johnston / Alex Kihurani