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WRC 2 in Spain: Suninen breaks season duck

Finland's Teemu Suninen scored his first WRC 2 win of the season in Spain on sunday afternoon.

His 31.8sec victory over Jan Kopecký at the three-day mixed surface encounter left the pair tied for second in the championship with two rounds remaining.

Suninen charged into an opening leg lead on the gravel tracks he favours. Czech champion Kopecký fought back when the surface switched to smooth asphalt, and won all 13 speed tests over the final two days to slash Suninen's advantage.

Kopecký was left to rue an opening day incident when his Skoda Fabia R5 was trapped in the dust of a competitor ahead.
He hoped his delay would be wiped out by rally officials but they refused and it made the difference between first and second.

"I still have a good chance to claim another silver medal in WRC 2 like I did last year," said Ford Fiesta R5 driver Suninen. "The season continues in Wales in three weeks and my only aim is to fight for the class win there."

Third went to Mexico's Benito Guerra, who shrugged off a bout of ‘flu for his third podium of the campaign. He ended just over half a minute clear of Skoda development driver Juuso Nordgren in another Fabia.

Simone Tempestini finished just 2.1sec behind the Finn. The Romanian received a 60sec penalty for checking in early to a time control, without which he would have replaced Guerra in the final podium place. Sixth went to Poland's Lukasz Pieniazek.

Zdroj: wrc.com