20-year-old Mille Johansson and co-driver Johan Grönvall remain firmly in the battle for the Junior WRC title. At this weekend’s round in Finland, they once again proved their pace with the highest number of stage wins – but had to settle for sixth place after two punctures and technical issues. With one round to go, they sit second in the standings, 14 points behind leader Taylor Gill.
Mille and Johan started the rally strongly, taking the lead after seven stages. A puncture on SS8 dropped them to fourth, and while they bounced back with a stage win on Saturday morning, worsening weather and a malfunctioning windscreen wiper made it difficult to maintain their pace. Another puncture in the afternoon dashed their hopes of climbing further in the results.
– It was another tough rally for us. We started hard and were leading the rally until SS8 where we had a puncture and dropped to P4. The roads were in really bad condition in some places, which we didn’t expect. On Saturday we started well with a stage win, then the rain came and our wipers didn’t work at full speed, so we lost a lot of time. In the push to recover as much as possible, we had another puncture and our chances for a good result were gone, says Mille Johansson.
They finished sixth overall, but with seven stage wins – more than any other crew – Mille and Johan once again showed they have the speed to fight for victory. The Junior WRC season finale takes place on asphalt at the Central European Rally on October 16–19, where double points will be on offer.
Until then, the duo will continue their programme in the Italian Gravel Championship and FIA ERC, competing with Italian team MS Munaretto in a Skoda Fabia Rally2.