20-year-old Swedish rally driver Mille Johansson, together with co-driver Johan Grönvall, delivered a strong performance at the Croatia Rally, the final round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The duo were fighting for an overall podium position in the Rally2 category before going off the road on Sunday morning.
Competing for the Italian team MS Munaretto in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 on Pirelli tyres, Johansson and Grönvall showed impressive pace throughout Saturday’s stages. They finished third on SS1 and SS2, second on SS5 – just 0.8 seconds from the stage win. After the opening day, they were fourth overall, only 2.8 seconds off a podium place in one of the most competitive fields of the season.
Sunday’s stages began in heavy rain and extremely slippery conditions, which proved decisive for the Swedish crew. On the opening stage of the day, the car slid into a ditch after a deep cut, forcing them to retire from the rally.
“That’s not how we wanted to end the rally. We were really on it this weekend and finally managed to show what we can do. That first stage win is getting closer. This Sunday was nothing but easy – heavy rain, mud and gravel. I took a big cut that sucked us into the ditch and that was it for us. Sorry to everyone. Reset now and focus on the JWRC title chase in a couple of weeks,” says Mille Johansson.
Despite the early retirement, the weekend marked another strong step forward in Johansson’s debut season at the top level of the European Championship.
Next up is the Junior WRC finale, Central European Rally (17–19 October), where Mille and Johan will fight for the junior world championship title.