It was a demanding weekend in the Czech Republic for 20-year-old Mille Johansson from Katrineholm and co-driver Johan Grönvall from Arvika as the FIA European Rally Championship visited the legendary Barum Czech Rally Zlín. With the full ERC elite on the entry list and notoriously tricky asphalt stages, the Swedish duo battled their way to a tenth-place finish in the championship’s top category.
With limited testing ahead of the event, Johansson and Grönvall struggled to find the setup they wanted, something that affected their pace throughout the rally. Their challenges were compounded by a puncture and several spins – but despite the setbacks, they kept their run together and secured a valuable top 10 result in their Pirelli-shod Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 run by MS Munaretto.
– It turned into a very eventful and tough rally for us. With very little testing beforehand, we didn’t manage to find the setup I wanted, and that cost us throughout the weekend. We had a puncture on Saturday and I also spun four times during the rally. It will be a lot of hard work before the next ERC in Croatia, where we hope to be able to challenge at the sharp end, said Mille Johansson.
Mille and Johan will skip the next FIA ERC round in Wales, and will instead return behind the wheel of MS Munaretto’s Škoda in the Italian Gravel Championship at Rally Vermentino on 25–27 September. After that, the season continues with the ERC finale in Croatia (asphalt) and the WRC finale at Central European Rally – where the Swedish duo will fight for gold in the FIA Junior WRC. Their campaign concludes with the Italian Gravel Championship in November.