Autosportfoto

WRC 2 in Australia: Alberto Heller seals comfortable win

Alberto Heller secured his first WRC 2 victory with a clean run through sunday's stages at Kennards Hire Rally Australia to win by 27m 19.9sec.

The Chilean started the final leg with a lead of more than 19 minutes after his chief rivals hit trouble on Saturday. That advantage proved useful for the Ford Fiesta R5 driver as heavy rain turned the morning's first two stages into a mud bath.

Gianluca Linari finished second, the Subaru Impreza driver focused on a clean run through the stages to register a career best result in WRC 2.

Armin Kremer failed to finish for the second day in a row. The German restarted under Rally 2 rules after retiring his Skoda Fabia with a damaged cooling system on Saturday afternoon, but further mechanical issues led to him retiring at mid-leg service.

Pedro Heller also retired from the final day. The Fiesta driver crashed out on Sunday's second test, one of many drivers caught out by the slippery conditions in the Sapphire 1 stage.

Zdroj: wrc.com