Junior WRC
Türkkan sets early pace in Junior WRC Portugal battle
Ali Türkkan seized the early advantage in the FIA Junior WRC at Vodafone Rally de Portugal, heading Gil Membrado by 3.0sec after Thursday’s shortened opening leg.
The Turkish driver was quickest on both stages completed by the Junior WRC field, topping Águeda - Sever before adding to his advantage on the Figueira da Foz super special.
The Junior WRC field completed two competitive stages on Thursday, with the scheduled run through Sever - Albergaria neutralised following an incident involving a crew in the WRC2 category.
Türkkan laid the foundations on SS1, completing the 15.08km Águeda - Sever stage in 12min 10.4sec. Membrado was his nearest rival, 1.4sec behind, while championship leader Calle Carlberg was third-fastest, 12.9sec off the pace.
“I think we made a good start winning the first stage,” Türkkan said after SS3. “The most important thing is my family is watching right now, so I have to say hi to them.”
Membrado ended the day second overall after a controlled start on Portugal’s rough gravel. The Spaniard reported “no mistakes, no drama” on SS1 despite the amount of exposed bedrock, then finished third-fastest on the Figueira da Foz super special.
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“It’s going to be a really tough Friday,” said Membrado. “We expect a little bit of rain this evening, so it will be more tough. The first stage already had a lot of bedrock.”
Carlberg completed the overnight podium, 13.6sec from the lead, but admitted he had struggled to find confidence on the opening stage. The Swede, who leads the championship after the opening two rounds, said understeer and rougher-than-expected conditions made for a difficult start.
“I struggled a bit with the understeer,” he explained. “I’ve never done a real gravel rally in a four-wheel-drive car, so what a place to learn it. I was expecting the first stage to be quite nice, but it wasn’t. It was really, really rough.”
Raúl Hernández ended Thursday fourth overall, 16.5sec behind Türkkan, with Leevi Lassila fifth after also finding conditions rougher than expected. Lassila was cautious on hard tyres through SS1 and lost more time on the Figueira da Foz test.
“It was super slippy, just couldn’t find the grip,” said Lassila. “I was a bit careful in the first one with the hard tyres, but it was okay.”
Craig Rahill sits sixth, 28.8sec from the lead, while Kerem Kazaz completed the order in seventh. Kazaz struggled for confidence on SS1 and later reported brake problems following the super special.
Türkkan and Membrado also locked out the top two in WRC3, with Italy's Matteo Fontana placing third in the category.
Friday raises the intensity with a remote service punctuating two passes of Mortágua, Arganil and Lousã, plus a single run through Góis in the afternoon.
