Round 3 of 6: Rally Rzeszow, 3-5 August

BUǦRA BANAZ (TUR) Position: Fifth
Co-driver: Burak Erdener (TUR) Car: Ford Fiesta R2

“Everything has been okay and it has been fun to drive in this rally. It was important to avoid the problems on the first day and take it slow to the finish, which is what we did. I enjoyed it a lot and scored very good points for us and our team. We are happy so thank you to my team.”

SÉBASTIEN BEDORET (BEL) Position: DNF (accident)
Co-driver: Thomas Walbrecq (BEL) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“I go out a little bit from the road and hit the radiator. I lose all the water so we stopped to save the engine. It was disappointing and a difficult rally with the problems with the brakes yesterday and the stages being cancelled. Hopefully it will be better next time.”

DOMINIK BROŽ (CZE) Position: Sixth
Co-driver: Petr Těšínský (CZE) Car: Ford Fiesta R2

“The first day was quite boring with lots of delays. Then we had problems with the gearbox, only second, third and fourth gears were working so it was a really difficult rally for us. Hopefully we will have our Peugeot back for the next event in our Czech Republic, our home event.”

JARI HUTTUNEN (FIN) Position: First
Co-driver: Antti Linnaketo (FIN) Car: Opel ADAM R2

“It was almost a perfect weekend for me. We do one big mistake but we were lucky. I am very pleased with my first win in ERC Junior Under 27. It was a strange rally because I don’t know the times of the other drivers because of the red flags. But it’s okay and amazing to do three rallies and have three wins.”

CHRIS INGRAM (GBR) Position: Eighth
Co-driver: Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Car: Opel ADAM R2

“It was such a hectic rally with crashes everywhere and only Jari had a clean run yesterday so it’s been a bit of a mess to be honest. It would be nice to have no dramas and a clean fight. It’s one of the fastest rallies I’ve ever done and it was a great event with so many spectators. But after making the perfect start to the season with two wins nothing has gone our way this weekend. We’ve been robbed a bit here but we’re still leading the championship.”

KRISTÓF KLAUSZ (HUN) Position: DNF (accident)
Co-driver: Botond Csányi (HUN) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“We had a big crash on the first stage. It was a right corner and the speed was too high. We could not turn into a junction and we hit a field and rolled two or three times. The chassis is a problem but the engine and gearbox are okay for the next rally. We tried to do a good result here and my speed before the crash was good but maybe it was too much.”

KAREL KUPEC (CZE) Position: Fourth
Co-driver: Ondřej Krajča (CZE) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“It was a difficult rally, a little bit crazy. The first day was not very good with the stage cancellations and then I had a technical problem on stage four. We tried to fight today and it was okay, fourth place is not bad although I need more points to be on the final podium.”

RADOMÍR KUPEC (CZE) Position: DNF (accident)
Co-driver: Petr Glössl (CZE) Car: Opel ADAM R2

“On the first stage this morning we had a lot of alarms on the dash but the car worked normal. We had some changes to the set-up for the next stage. On the third stage I was a little too optimistic in one corner. It was very slow but there was a drop of 1.5 metres and we rolled. The damage was not so bad and we could have continued but there was a problem with the brakes.”

FILIP MAREŠ (CZE) Position: Second
Co-driver: Jan Hloušek (CZE) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“Of course I am really satisfied with this result and I would like to say a big thanks to my team and my co-driver. The car was fantastic, everything was good. The main target was to get a podium finish and we have done this so I ma very happy. I look forward to Barum now where hopefully we can be even more competitive.”

TAMARA MOLINARO (ITA) Position: Seventh
Co-driver: Ursula Mayrhofer (AUT) Car: Opel ADAM R2

“In this rally it was not possible not to have a moment even if I was trying to be completely safe – it’s insane and not nice to see drivers crashing. The plan was to bring the car to the finish line and score points for the ERC Ladies’ Trophy. I wanted to get some nice stage times but I was not able to in these conditions. I’m really sorry for the other girls who crashed but that’s rally.”

CATIE MUNNINGS (GBR) Position: DNF (accident)
Co-driver: Anne Katharina Stein (DEU) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“We’ve had the most frustrating weekend. The only stage we actually completed yesterday was the city stage in the evening. All of the other four stages we were red-flagged because of accidents. But on the kilometres we completed we were making great progress and our feeling was getting better and better. Today, again, the feeling and driving was the best it’s been but we were caught out by a series of depressions and bumps in the road on a fast section and crashed, which ended our rally. These roads are incredibly difficult to drive at high speed and have caught out a lot of drivers – a tough weekend for everyone I think. We hope to be back soon but we will see.”

SIMON WAGNER (AUT) Position: DNF (accident)
Co-driver: Gerald Winter (AUT) Car: Peugeot 208 R2

“We had a technical problem and lost power, that’s it. Before then I was quite happy for my first time in ERC Junior and my first time in Poland and the stage times were not bad. I really like the stages here and we learned a lot of course.”

ALEKS ZAWADA (POL) Position: Third
Co-driver: Grzegorz Dachowski (POL) Car: Opel ADAM R2

“A podium finish is always a good finish. I was aiming a bit higher before the event but the rally was extremely difficult. We have given it our all and we’re really pleased. I hope I did a good job for my sponsors and the Polish fans. We had a few problems with the brakes so I couldn’t drive as fast as I would like. Hopefully we can do it again next year.”