Strong drive by Veiby at Rally Spain

Rally Spain started with gravel stages on Friday, but after a good first stage, Ole Christian Veiby and his co-driver Stig Rune Skjærmoen suffered punctures on SS3. “We caught a double puncture on the second stage of the day and had to take it easy after that. After the midday service break we had a couple of great stages and then the car stopped on the last stage and we had to retire, completely out of power.”

On Friday evening the team rebuilt the car and went from gravel to tarmac setup, while rain and colder temperatures made tyre choices even harder. “Saturday was a very difficult day on tarmac. Incredibly hard to choose the right tyres and we had many discussions whether we should go with slicks or wet tyres. I think we made a good choice, but with lots of rain and dirt on the road, it wasn’t easy. We had a small puncture on Saturday evening, but that was my own fault. Right front tyre took a little hit and that was enough to cause a puncture.”

Only four stages remained of Rally Spain on Sunday, this time in a bit more sunny weather and drier conditions. “Our Sunday started very well. We decided to just go for it today, it was easier to push in these conditions. The first stage was really great, we mixed in with the top. The second stage was more challenging with sand and gravel that had been dragged out on the road. We struggled a little with the car and finding grip. After service we made the wrong tyre choice, we picked soft tyres when we should have gone with hard. On the first stage after service, our split times were good but after that, the tyres were completely worn” said Ole Christian.

Final results Rally Spain WRC2:
1 Rovanperä
2 Kopecky +8,5
3 P Solberg +1.36,6
4 Kajetanowicz +1.59,6
5 Solans +2.59,3
6 H Solberg +4.47,4
7 Loubet +4.53,5
8 Andolfi +12.12,0
9 Veiby +12.32,9
10 Tempestini +16.55,3