Lindholm’s WRC asphalt debut brings excellent second place in the WRC2-class
Team GRX’s Volkswagen driver´s Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen rose nicely to the second podium spot of WRC2-class in RallyRACC Catalunya, Rally de España. Rally de España was the first full WRC asphalt rally for the twosome. Today’s result matches Lindholm’s driving careers best WRC2-class result on WRC level.
Lindholm drove the whole rally strongly upward, maintaining his clean and wise driving.
After Friday’s gravel special stages the WRC2-class driving twosome were on the sixth place and after Saturday’s asphalt special stages on the fourth place. On Sunday, after four new asphalt special stages, Lindholm ended the rally at the finish line with second place in his pocket. On the WRC overall standings the Finnish twosome were thirteenth.
“Now it is easy to smile”, Lindholm tells with a huge smile on his face.
“Very complete, full and even performance from us. Everything went as planned from the beginning to the end. This was a great way to end our season and I want to thank all of our sponsors and supporters. Even though we got left behind by other drivers on Friday, it really didn’t matter on results of the whole weekend”, Lindholm says.
“Today I drove all the difficult parts with loose gravel and sand very carefully. On few places of the turns there were a lot of slippery gravel on the road. For those turns I break early and drove them clean and sure. Our car was very fast and worked excellent whole weekend”, tells Lindholm.
Being comfortable on asphalt roads makes Lindholm a rare Finnish rally driver.
“I like driving asphalt rallies and yes, this experience and result made that feeling even stronger. I enjoyed Saturday’s and Sunday’s asphalt special stages more than Friday’s gravel special stages. Here in Spain they have exceptional asphalt roads. Very nice experience to me”, Lindholm says.
RallyRACC Catalunya, Rally de España is the last rally of the season for Lindholm and Korhonen. Planning and building the next season is continuing closely.
“We have already started building the calendar for the next season. We are mapping out what series and rallies there is possible for us to drive. When we have figured that out we will release our schedule. A big thank you for all the sponsors and supporters for everything”, Lindholm reminds.
RallyRACC Catalunya, Rally de España, Salou;
WRC2-class unofficial results:
1. Eric Camilli – _Benjamin Veillas (FRA) Citroën 3:16:26,8
2. Emil Lindholm – _Mikael Korhonen (FIN) Volkswagen + 1:40,7
3. Kajetan Kajetanowicz – _Maciej Szczepaniak (POL) Volkswagen + 1:56,5
Photo: Timo Anis
