This weekend, the final round of this year’s FIA European Rally Championship takes place on asphalt in Poland. Swede Mille Johansson, along with co-driver Johan Grönvall, secured the FIA Junior European Rally Championship title at the last round in Wales, and are competing in this weekend’s final in a four-wheel drive car as preparation for next year’s WRC campaign.
Mille and Johan will be driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3 this weekend, with support from the IKsport team and tire manufacturer Hankook. It’s the same type of car they’ll be driving in next year’s FIA Junior World Rally Championship, where they earned a spot through their ERC title.
On Wednesday, they completed their first test in the car on asphalt ahead of the weekend’s event.
”The car felt as I expected. It has about the same power as the Rally4 cars, but much more aggressive when exiting corners. The feeling after today’s test is good, even though we didn’t get as much time in the car as we had hoped. But I believe we’ll be in the fight for top positions,” says Mille Johansson.
Rally Silesia in Poland is the final round of this year’s FIA European Rally Championship, and in the Rally3 class, Mille and Johan are one of four competing crews. The competition starts with one stage on Friday, followed by seven stages on Saturday and six on Sunday.
”It’s going to be great to get back into the Rally3 again, and maybe end the season the same way we started. I also feel this is excellent preparation for us ahead of next year’s adventure in the Junior WRC. Our goal is to have fun and try to find a really good and fast rhythm, both with the car and within ourselves,” says Johan Grönvall.
”It’ll be fun to race without any pressure, not having a championship to think about. We’re doing this event just to learn for next year. I’m also looking forward to the gala after the event, where Johan and I will receive our awards for the European Championship gold,” Mille concludes.