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Tempestini wins the opening round of the 2016 FIA Junior WRC

Contested as part of Rally de Portugal, the opening round of the 2016 FIA Junior WRC Championship saw a fascinating head-to-head battle between Simone Tempestini and Martin Koci, with Terry Folb never far away, ready to seize any opportunities. The Italian only secured the win in the last few stages!

Following Thursday's ceremonial start held in the majestic surroundings of Castelo de Guimarães and the Lousada super special stage, the rally proper began on Friday morning. On SS2, a series of punctures slowed Ole Christian Veiby - the early leader after his win on SS1 - Mohamed Al Mutawaa and Romain Martel. Lukasz Pieniazek rolled his car, forcing him into an early retirement. Having claimed two stage wins in the morning loop, Simone Tempestini took the lead, ahead of Martin Koci, Terry Folb, Frédéric Hauswald and Vincent Dubert. Meanwhile, Andrea Crugnola was hampered by a power steering issue on SS3, putting him out of contention for victory.

On the second pass on the stages, Ole Christian Veiby hit form as he set two fastest times. The Norwegian took advantage of issues for Hauswald (broken suspension after SS7) and Dubert (two punctures) to move up to fourth place. Following the Porto street stage, Tempestini headed back to service in the lead, 17.1s clear of Koci and 38.3s ahead of Folb.

Further drama ensued on Saturday's opening stage. Hit by a brake hose leak, Simone Tempestini lost the lead to Martin Koci. The Italian repaired the problem on the road section, but then lost another 40 seconds after arriving late at the time control for the next test. Meanwhile, Mohamed Al Mutawaa and Thilo Himmel were forced to retire after going off.

With his problems behind him, Simone Tempestini set about making up the lost ground. He won the last four stages of the day to close to within 30.8s of Koci. Consistent throughout the leg, Terry Folb remained within a minute of the leader. Following Veiby's retirement (broken transmission after two punctures), the gaps were huge, with fourth-placed Dubert almost ten minutes adrift! The winner of the Citroën Racing Trophy France hadn't had an easy day, particularly losing three minutes in the fog on SS14.

In spite of the many incidents, often caused by the deteriorating state of the roads, all eleven DS 3 R3-MAXs lined up for the final leg on Sunday morning, which featured four stages with no service period. On the opening test, Martin Koci lost a good portion of his lead after damaging a front shock absorber in a minor impact. Simone Tempestini then reclaimed the lead on SS17 and held onto first position until the finish. Koci even had to defend his second place from Folb, who closed to within 18s ahead of the final stage! Despite the Frenchman's stage win, the Czech driver held onto his runner-up spot by 10.2 seconds.

Behind the top three, the other finishers were Vincent Dubert, Ole Christian Veiby, Frédéric Hauswald, Romain Martel, Mohamed Al Mutawaa, Andrea Crugnola and Lukasz Pieniazek. Only Thilo Himmel failed to make it to the end after suffering a broken gearbox mounting.

Simone Tempestini: "It was a very difficult rally for everyone. The conditions were hard for the cars and the crews. We knew what to expect before the start and we were constantly trying to look after the car. I knew I had good pace notes so that helped me to push when everything was going well. Having said that, there were points at which I wondered if the rally might end badly, especially yesterday when we had a leak from the brake hose. But we refused to become disheartened and we were right not to! We have achieved our goal for the weekend with this win and it's the perfect way to start the season."

QUENTIN GILBERT SHORT ON LUCK

2015 FIA Junior WRC champion Quentin Gilbert began the six-event WRC2 programme he earned for winning last year's title. In his DS 3 R5 prepared by DG Sport, he made a good start to the rally and ended the opening leg in fourth position, a minute behind the leader.

However, the Frenchman was then one of the many drivers caught out by the tricky Baião stage (SS10). A misunderstood pace note resulted in an off, forcing him to retire for the day. Back in action on day two, Quentin was looking to accumulate as much experience as possible, but he had to retire again after SS17 due to a water leak caused on landing after the Fafe jump.
Of the other DS 3 R5s competing in the WRC2, Yoann Bonato finished in seventh place, whilst Emil Bergkvist didn't make it to the end (gearbox).

FIA JUNIOR WRC STANDINGS

1. Tempestini / Bernacchini 4:30:15.7
2. Koci / Kostka +36.3
3. Folb / Le Floch +46.5
4. Dubert / Coria +10:43.6
5. Veiby / Skjaermoen +25:09.6
6. Hauswald / Vilmot +26:19.7
7. Martel / Lemoine +27:19.8
8. Al Mutawaa / McAuley +50:44.0
9. Crugnola / Ferrara +55:32.2
10. Pieniazek / Mazur +1:38:14.4