Veiby showed strong pace at the JWRC premiere in Portugal

“Maybe this isn’t what we planned for, but those points are definitely valuable and we gained a lot of experience. We were the fastest car through four of the stages and set second fastest times also, meaning the pace is definitely there” said Ole Christian Veiby, who finished second in the JWRC last year and aims for the top spot in the championship this season.

Rally Portugal took off in a great way for Ole. Behind the wheel of his Printsport run Citröen DS3 R3T, he set the fastest time on the short opening stage on Thursday evening, but suffered a few mishaps during the weekend. Still he showed impressive speed and a fighting spirit that made him and his co-driver Stig Rune Skjærmoen climb the leaderboard and eventually secure fifth place.

“It worked so well inside the car and our preparations really paid off” said Ole. “Such a shame that a few technical glitches stopped us from fighting all the way. That said, the guys from Printsport Racing did a massive job fixing the car, multiple times! For that I am very grateful and without them, we wouldn’t be able to drive at all, especially not this weekend!”

With this being the first JWRC round out of six this season, Ole is in fifth place in the championship standings and is optimistic about what’s to come:

“We will take this weekend’s positives with us, learn from the experience and look forward. After all, the pace that we had here in Portugal helps building the confidence that we need to continue fighting for our goal” said Ole, who will be out looking for more points to add to the collection as the JWRC series continues in Poland in July.

Results JWRC, Rally Portugal 2016
1. Simone Tempestini, Italia 4:30.15,7
2. Martin Koci, Slovakia +36,3
3. Terry Folb, Frankrike +46,5
4. Vicent Dubert, Frankrike +10.43,6
5. Ole Christian Veiby, Norge +25.09,6