20-year-old rally driver Mille Johansson from Katrineholm and co-driver Johan Grönvall from Arvika return to action this weekend at Rally Valli della Carnia in Ampezzo, Italy. The rally is an important step in their preparation for the upcoming ERC and Junior WRC finales.
Johansson and Grönvall, competing for Italian team MS Munaretto in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 on Pirelli tyres, will face 21 Rally2 cars. Among the rivals is experienced Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, former WRC2 World Champion, also driving a Škoda.
– Since all the remaining events on our calendar are on asphalt, apart from the final round of the Italian Gravel Championship, we chose to do this rally as a good test before Croatia and to avoid switching between surfaces so close together, said Mille Johansson.
After a challenging ERC weekend in the Czech Republic, Mille and Johan are now looking to build on the positive feeling from their recent tests ahead of the Italian start.
– The goal this weekend is to find the right setup in both car and tyres, something we didn’t manage to do last time in the Czech Republic. The tests before this rally have felt much better, so it feels like we are heading in the right direction, Mille continued.
Rally Valli della Carnia will be contested over eight special stages – four on Friday, 26 September, and four on Saturday, 27 September.
Next weekend sees the ERC finale in Croatia, where Mille and Johan will make their sixth start in the top ERC1 category with MS Munaretto. Then, from 16–19 October, the Junior WRC title will be decided at Central European Rally in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Mille and Johan currently sit second in the standings – but with double points on offer in the Junior WRC finale, everything is still to play for.
– We want to really get into the rhythm of asphalt driving ahead of CER, since that rally will decide who becomes World Champion. The goal with these two events beforehand is to build strong confidence so that we don’t go into the decisive WRC round uncertain, Mille concluded.