Suzuki driver Urmo Aava has claimed his first Junior Championship victory of the season on round three of the series, the Rally d'Italia-Sardinia. Aava finished over a minute ahead of his team mate P-G Andersson, in second. The result means that Andersson continues to lead the title race, with Aava in second. The Suzuki Swift was dominant on the rough and rocky gravel roads of Sardinia, winning every stage of the rally. Both cars ran reliably during the event, although Urmo lost time after hitting a tree on day two, while P-G dropped back with a puncture. Despite these setbacks, both Suzuki drivers finished more than five minutes ahead of their closest rivals.

Urmo Aava (1st in JRC after SS18)
"This win makes up for the disappointment of Portugal last month, where I lost the lead on the final afternoon with a puncture. We're lucky to be here at all after hitting a tree on the second day, but luckily the Suzuki Swift is very strong so it was fine. The car has not given us a single problem throughout all three days of this very tough rally, and I've also moved two points closer towards challenging P-G for the lead of the championship. "


P-G Andersson (2nd in JRC after SS18)
"First of all, I'd like to congratulate Urmo on a well-deserved victory. After I had my puncture yesterday there was no way I could catch up with him, although we were very closely matched beforehand. It was a really good fight! For me, the important thing is that I come away from here still leading the championship. The key to winning the title is to be consistent as well as quick, so I took no risks today to be sure of bringing the car home in one piece."


Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima, team principal
"Congratulations to Urmo: he really deserves this win! Both drivers did everything we asked of them and I am very pleased that our Suzuki Swift claimed all the stages and proved its reliability once more. Now we have a long gap to the next round of the Junior Championship on the Rallye Deutschland in August. There the surface will be asphalt: we hope we can be strong, but the competition is sure to be very tough."

Junior Rally Championship classification after SS18, Rally d'Italia
1 Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift 4h15m03.9s
2 P-G Andersson Suzuki Swift +1m09.4s
3 Martin Prokop Citroen C2 +6m22.8s
4 Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 +9m09.0s
5 Jaan Molder Suzuki Swift +9m40.3s
6 Jozef Beres Renault Clio +15m11.1s
7 Bryan Bouffier Citroen C2 +21m51.7s
8 Patrik Sandell Renault Clio +22m39.2s