Veiby with impressive driving in Spain

“I’m very pleased with my driving and has hardly performed better. I have kept a high pace and I have been at my best, especially on the tarmac stages. After my retirement on Friday, I focused on getting as much experience and as many points as possible from this event” said Ole, who most likely would have been in the fight for the win if he had not crashed on Friday.

The official WRC website, wrc.com, has previously referred to the 19-year-old Norwegian as the sensation of this year’s Junior WRC. That reputation has grown even stronger after this weekend’s round. Ole and his co-driver Anders Jæger won as many as seven stages, two on gravel and five on tarmac. That kind of performance gets noticed. Unfortunately, their rally came to an abrupt stop as the car was badly damaged from the meeting with the bridge. The mechanics of Printsport, the team that runs Ole’s car, did a fantastic job and literally patched it together so that he could continue on Saturday and Sunday.

“That I had to retire on Friday was a big disappointment. But my driving has overall been very good and that is something I take with me to the last JWRC round of the season in Wales. This past year I have taken big steps forward and I think I proved that this weekend, even though the final result was not so good” said Ole.

Italian Simone Tempestini passed Ole in the overall classification and is now in second place. But the Norwegian still has a good grip of third place with ten points down to fourth place.

“I have not given up the thought of finishing second in the championship. Tempestini will have to fight to keep his current position in the standings” said Ole.

Overall classification in the JWRC with one round to go:

1. Quentin Gilbert 131 points
2. Simone Tempestini 68
3. OLE CHRISTIAN VEIBY 58
4. Henri Haapamaki and Terry Folb 48
5. Jean-René Perry 32
6. Federico Della Casa, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Mohammed Al-Mutawaa 28
7. Yohan Rossel 25