Autosportfoto

Kasperczyk begins busy 2018 with ERC Junior points

Tomasz Kasperczyk recovered from a roll to finish the Azores Airlines Rallye seventh among the FIA ERC Junior Under 28 Championship contingent - and set up a season of action in Europe and his native Poland.

The Tiger Energy Drink Rally Team driver, co-driven by Damian Syty, crashed on stage nine but was able to continue to service in Ponta Delgada where repairs to his Ford Fiesta R5 ensured he made the finish.

"I was five kilometres from the finish of stage nine when I lost the line and go a little bit too wide on some corners," Kasperczyk explained. "I was a little bit too wide on the right side and I hit a little something on the rear and then I rolled three or four times. I was really sorry for the guys behind me because I block the stage.

"I was more happy on Saturday because we were driving after our team made a very good yesterday to repair the car, which was very good. On the second Grupo Marques stage I did the third best time, my first top-three stage time in the ERC.

"It was pretty tough weekend for us, but we finish it with a lot of new rally knowledge. We covered the distance of every special stage, which is important as every kilometre brings us vital experience. The Azores Rallye helped us to get into rally mode and check our pace ahead of oncoming challenges, both in the ERC and Polish championship.

"At the end I would like to appreciate the fantastic work by C-Rally, who managed to quickly fix our car after our roll and get us going again."

Zdroj: fiaerc.com