ERC: Solberg / Paddon duel at Rally Scandinavia!

A newcomer to the ERC (European Rally Championship) calendar, W Scandinavia Rally It actually takes place on a section of the former Sweden Rally track. Not surprisingly, the list of entries is quite extensive, not to mention the spare “Legends” rally where we found the Solberg family, Stig Blomqvist and Alistair McRae! In the international rally, Oliver Solberg is leading Hayden Paddon!

ERC: Great duel between Solberg and Paddon in Scandinavia!

Mads Ostberg, Hayden Paddon, Oliver Solberg, Nikolai Grizzen, Ole Christian Vibe The ERC looks more and more like WRC! If we add to this the locals who came for the first Scandinavian Rally, this fifth round of the European Championship season is very attractive on paper.

In the specials, everything quickly turned into a big duel between Hayden Paddon and Oliver Solberg! The current championship leader took the first private 4 tenths faster than Solberg, 2s6 faster than Gryazin. In the next special, Paddon repeats with a 2s1 better than Solberg. Behind, the rivals are already beginning to pull away: Gryazin has already slumped for more than 10 seconds! On the other hand, a surprise quickly appeared: Frank Tore Larsen (Volkswagen Polo Jetty R5). The Norwegian, who made his first appearance for the Egyptian Red Crescent since 2018, invites himself to the podium. In the third special, Oliver Solberg (VW Polo Gti R5) hits hard and signs the scratch for 4s3 better than the New Zealander. Oliver does it again on the last lap of the morning loop. At midday he’s 3s9 ahead of Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) and 21s3 ahead of Frank Tore Larsen!

This afternoon Paddon set a scratch time in the SS5 and then saw Solberg chain together scratch times like pearls, despite the steering problem in the young Swedish Polo!

So, after the first day of racing, Oliver Solberg is ten seconds ahead of Hayden Paddon 2. Behind four pilots standing in five seconds! Larsen managed to resist the attacks of his rivals and remained on the podium 45s6 behind Solberg. In the back, Mikko Heckela (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) is a small eight-tenths behind the Norwegian. Nikolay Grizin (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) completed 5th in 4s1 from Heikla. The Russian driver is threatened by Martins Sesks (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) who is 10th out of the top 5! The winner from Poland and Latvia looks less comfortable in this new Rally of Scandinavia. Then follow Lauri Joona (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), Mathieu Franceschi (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo), Filip Mares (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) and ERC champion, Efren Llarena, who has nevertheless switched to the “old” Fabia R5 Evo. Note Ole Christian Veiby’s modest 13th place (VW Polo Gti R5) when he finished second in Sweden in February.

See you tomorrow for the final eight stages of the program and especially for the Colin’s Crest jump!

Note that in Legends Petter Solberg (Citroën C4 WRC) won the day’s special. His mother co-rided the 2003 WRC World Champion and he intends to give her a victory as a gift.

Article published on 07/07/2023 at 7:30 PM.