Sniff Petrol rallying correspondent BOB BULHAT brings us up to date with all the latest special stage action
Last weekend the Junior Global Rally World Championship Rally Formula 2 Series action moved to the legendary forest stages of Scandinavia for the infamous 18 Fjords Rally of Norway and all eyes were on championship leader Marcus Stromenekelsson who was once again looking to take top spot in his VW Jetta JGRWCR F2 R.
Stromenekelsson made a strong start on the first 12 stages but by stage 13, taking place in the challenging Tromjspellellielli Forest, he was feeling the heat from championship rival Juni Spjunkhatterplatten in the ever-improving Peugeot 108 Juniormax GRWCRF2 S-plus who was breathing down his neck, just 10 minutes behind.
As if that wasn’t thrilling enough, from stages 15 to 27 local hero Lars-Tjorben Majerfatterplotterploppen in third spot managed to close the gap to an incredible 17 minutes before misjudging the jump on the penultimate hairpin and rolling end-over-end down a mountainside. As a result, his Renault Clio JuGloWoCha F2-R RS Evolution 3 S needed completely rebuilding from scratch whilst Majerfatterplotterploppen and his co-driver Knut Holvenovenovenovenovenoven required an overnight stay in hospital, knocking them back to fourth place.
Their misfortune was to the benefit of the Kia Rio Global World Rally F2 Junior R-spec R S-Series R driven by former Rally World Series Championship Rally World Rally Junior Senior Formula 9 champion Harry-Barry Skaerjerfjordenbjurgebordenalltrainsterminateatmorden who moved up to third despite an enormous accident on stage 46 in which his car tumbled two miles down a mountain side, caught fire and was then buried under an avalanche, losing him a nail biting two days. Nonetheless, the Swedish driver was able to put in a sensational drive on the muddy final stages of the Snasvurtersputern-Mortenharket Valley and was able to proudly stand in third spot on the overlit, night time floor level podium in the town square of Vatnathatbatcatsatratpatstraterhjo.
It remains to be seen if the top three can maintain their searing pace when the action moves to the arid landscape and 900 stages of the legendary Rally du Dust in just eight weeks’ time.
